Not All Slytherins
by jordp
Summary: James and Kit didn't necessarily get off to the best start their first year. Well, if you include calling your potion's partner's parents Death Eaters a good start, then maybe they did. Hopefully, over the next seven years, they'll somehow learn to tolerate each other and James will learn that not all Slytherins are (that) bad.
1. Chapter 1

" **Hello Stranger"**

 **Or**

" **Not All Slytherins"**

James had been waiting for this day ever since he knew what Hogwarts was and of course, it had to start with potions. Dear Merlin, why oh why did James' first day or Hogwarts have to start with potions? The Higher Institution that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry truly already had it out for him and he had only made it one night so far. What was he going to do when he had to take his OWLs? Or worse, play Quidditch. It was already too much for the eleven, nearly twelve, year old boy to handle.

First day, first period potions with the Slytherins. Just Avada him right then and there.

And of course Slughorn, the old bat, just about fainted when James walked through the door and took a seat next to his new housemates, Max O'Brien and Jack Wood. They had been going through roll for the better part of class and Slughorn had yet to hit the "Ps."

An irritating snapping sound kept coming from the back of the room and James was just about to turn around and yell at whoever it was to knock it off when his attention was diverted elsewhere.

"Alright, now, Mr. Potter." James snapped out of his thoughts about India McLaggen's incessant gum popping to give the potions master a smile. "If you could please take a seat next to Miss Parker?" Professor Slughorn gestured to an attentive brown-haired witch in one of the last few rows.

James, remembering his manners, smiled at the old potions master and ambled towards the back of the room. He placed his bag on the ground and sat on the old wooden stool, before turning towards the girl next to him.

Swiveling on her stool, the witch smiled brightly at him and introduced herself with a terribly posh accent.

"Katherine Parker and you must be...James? Sometimes, I go by Kit, but my mum thinks it makes me sound like a five-year-old, but anyway, nice to meet you..." she trailed off uncomfortably and put out her hand for him to shake.

"James Potter," he said, shocked at her firm grip, "Just James is fine."

"Nice to meet you. I think Slughorn is getting a little on in the years since we all seem to be sitting alphabetically," she whispered the last part conspiratorially.

James was about to reply with some witty comment about senile Slytherins when he noticed something striking about the witch next to him.

She had a green and silver tie around her neck that matched her green and black school robe that matched her green flats, which meant -

She was a Slytherin.

This spunky, far too excited for first period potions, witch next to him was a _slimy_ Slytherin. As if the morning couldn't get any worse, James was stuck sitting next to a Slytherin for the rest of the year, that no doubt had a family that committed some awful atrocity against muggleborns or, hell, even someone in James' family during the First or Second Wizarding War. _The Daily Prophet_ was chock full of stories these days about former Slytherins and Death Eaters rallying up against Muggleborns again, especially those who were trying to squash the rising anti-Pureblood movement.

The things _they_ did in the past were enough for eleven-year-old James to form an intense dislike for the entire lot - nevermind the fact that this Parker bird was the first one James had ever really met up close - besides Slughorn, of course.

So, yes. James Potter hated Slytherins and therefore, by the transitive property, James Potter hated Kit Parker (for the record, he had to disagree with Kit's mother because Kit did not seem like a name for a five-year-old, it had far too much of something spunk, as much as James hated to admit it).

The girl in question seemed to give up all hope of James responding to her statement and turned front to give Slughorn her utmost attention, while James tried to figure out a way for the two to cease being partners, despite the pair not even brewing a potion yet. Oh no, James was going to find a way out of this disastrous pairing even if it took him till seventh year.

* * *

Kit wasn't really a fan of James Potter, but she promised herself that she would give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the kid just wasn't up on his social queues, or maybe he was just plain stupid - he was a Gryffindor after all and her mother always made a point to say that they were a bunch of hotheads with little going on upstairs.

But two months later on a rainy evening in November, when Kit suggested that she and James work together on their potions' essay in the library, she knew she had to figure out what the hell the kid's deal was.

James' pissy attitude and clear dismissal of his grades struck a chord with Kit, so she decided to go to the library with her roommates, Marlene Fawley and Corey Chang-Davies, only to see the traitor himself sitting with Max O'Brien and Edward Crawley. Having meet Max on the train with Marlene and already knowing James from potions, Kit had no qualms about going over to the three Gryffindors boys.

"Hey, James," she started boldly but felt her confidence wane as James and Teddy looked at her warily, though Max smiled. "I was wondering if you wanted to work on the potions' essay together? I don't really understand what the Wiggenweld potion does since ours didn't really turn out that well in class -"

James looked around the library briefly before addressing her. "- Sorry, but I'm busy."

Hmph. "Okay," she drew out, "well what about tomorrow? I mean the essay isn't due until Thurs-"

"- Look, why don't I just owl you or something? It'll be easier that way."

"But I don't understand the potion -" He glared at her. "Fine. I'll see you in class then," Kit said stiffly before walking over to where Marlene and Corey were sitting. She pulled out a chair and got out her books with a huff.

"It's so odd, it's like he doesn't want to be seen with you. Does he talk to you in class much?" Marlene asked curiously.

Kit sighed, completely drained from the situation. "No, and our potions normally turn out poorly. I didn't do anything wrong, that I know of..."

"- Well, I personally think he's an idiot. What makes him think that he's above talking to us?" The girls gave Corey incredulous looks. "Oh come on, tell me you didn't see him and Crawley looking around the library to see if anyone was watching. Potter's a prat. It's a well-known fact that most people hate Slytherins, why would he be any different?"

Kit glanced back over at James, who was laughing with Teddy at something Max said and pondered his actions. Would he really be that prejudiced even after all this time? She didn't think people had those strong feelings anymore.

"She's right, Kit. Maybe you should just avoid talking to him if he's going to be rude about it," Marlene added.

"And let my potions grade suffer? I think not," Kit told the blonde-haired witch.

"Here, here! There's that fighting spirit!" Corey shouted, earning a glare from an aging Madame Pince, whom she made a face at in return.

The girls' table was quiet for a moment before Marlene leaned forward to address her friends. "I just don't think you should let him get to you is all."

Kit shook her head. "I won't! I mean, I need to get good grades to be an Auror after all."

"Merlin, Parker! I highly doubt your potions' grade from first year is going to determine whether you can be an Auror or not, plus it's only been two months and we already know how much of an arse Crawley is and he and Potter are roommates." Corey rolled her eyes.

Kit gave her friend a hard look. "Whatever, but I'm not going to let James Potter get to me. You're right Corey, he _is_ a prat."

Even worse, he was a prat with bad manners.

* * *

But that _still_ wasn't the event that caused Kit to draw the line. Unfortunately, this event came two days before the Christmas Holiday after James rebuffed _yet another_ one of Kit's requests to work on a potions essay in the library after James spilled their potion all over her in class earlier that day and Slughorn made the pair write an essay as a way to make it up.

James claimed he was busy with other work all that evening and the next four days and at least the first five weeks after they got back from break, which Kit thought was just a _bit_ fishy.

It was passing time between classes and Kit was walking down the Transfiguration Corridor with another one of her roommates, Vivian Boot, when she heard James loudly talking - no complaining - about some girl to Maisie Jordan, Jack Wood, and Siobhan Finnigan, all first-year Gryffindors.

"- I mean she's incorrigible! She's always trying to talk to me about this or that. It's so bloody annoying," he whined, "She's always taking control of our potion and corrects me like I'm some kind of idiot, I mean she didn't even know what the Wiggenweld potion did, she had to ask for my help! And she's a Slytherin!" he exclaimed, "Bloody snakes! They all think they're so high and mighty. I mean her parents were probably former Death Eaters for all we know!"

Kit stopped dead in her tracks. Hell no, he did _not_ go there. The git didn't even know her, he had no knowledge of her background, he -

"Come on Kit, he's not worth it. We all know Potter's a prat," Vivian pleaded with Kit, who turned around and marched over to the other group of students.

"How dare you, Potter!" The first year Gryffindors turned around to look at her in surprise. "You barely talk to me for three months and you think you know my whole life's story!" She hit him with her notebook and he let out a little yelp and rubbed his arm. "You're one of the most entitled people I've ever met! I can't believe you even - ugh! I hate you, you arsehole! If you didn't want to be my partner, all you had to do was tell me, so I wouldn't have wasted three months of school working with someone who hates me and doesn't care about his schoolwork! Just grow up and tell Slughorn you want to switch! Leave me alone and don't go spreading things about me around school!"

She pivoted on the heel of her green flat and strutted down the corridor, with Vivian hot on her heels before James even had a chance to reply. As they rounded the corner, Kit finally let the tears fall and resigned herself to being late for transfiguration, not giving two shits about James Potter and how she probably just ruined her entire tenure at Hogwarts with one impassioned diatribe.

* * *

Later that evening, James was sitting alone in the library trying - and failing - to do his potions essay. He had been having a terrible day ever since he had his confrontation with Parker in the corridor. He hadn't meant to say those things, they just sort of...came out. The potions' essay _was_ really hard - maybe he shouldn't have yelled at her -

"So, now you choose to be diligent," Parker's voice suddenly crept up on him without any preamble. He didn't even notice her walk over to his corner of the library, which was relatively empty two days before the holiday break.

James startled and stopped writing his essay to look up at his partner. "Merlin, why'd you - wait what?"

"Did you know I'm a disappointment?" she continued again without any preface.

"What?" James frowned a little and focused all his attention on Parker.

She blushed a little under his stare and focused on his parchment on the table. "You called my parents Death Eaters and I realize in my haste to completely excoriate you, I neglected to properly correct you."

He nodded his head at the chair across from him and gestured for Parker to sit down, while he tried to remember what 'excoriate' meant. Not knowing quite what to say, James cleared his throat. "Err, how does this make you a disappointment?"

A loud screech echoed through the library as Parker begrudgingly took the chair offered to her.

"I'm not supposed to be in Slytherin. My entire family from as far back as there was a Parker or MacDougal Family at Hogwarts has been in Ravenclaw." She let out a humourless chuckle before continuing.

"And, Merlin I don't know, I just wanted to be different. I could be my own person in Slytherin. My parents always told me that I could be in whichever house I wanted, but I didn't realize until three months ago what an empty statement that was. I fit the characteristics and the Hat told me I would make a good fit. I didn't think my parents would care as long as I was happy."

She paused and gave James a self-deprecating smile. "But they did care. They still love me, but I could tell they were disappointed...I'm eleven years old and I'm the family disappointment. My brother Miles is going to be at Hogwarts next year and there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a Ravenclaw. My father, he works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation at The Ministry - he wants me to follow in his footsteps one day - and I could just...I could just tell in his letter to me that he was - unhappy," she sniffled, "he was cold - not mean - but cold. My mother was the same way. I always looked up to her - she could have really been something. She trained to be a healer, but she wanted to take care of me and Miles and make _Ashbury_ something great. Something to carry on our legacy. And I ruined it because I wanted to be different."

Throughout the conversation, James remained silent, unsure of what to say. He wasn't quite sure what _Ashbury_ was, but he could tell it meant a lot to her. Then, as swiftly as she sat down, Parker got up from her chair. "So, no, James. My parents aren't Death Eaters or pureblood supremacists - they're just...disappointed."

James started to get up as well and opened his mouth to speak - to reply to Parker's exceedingly candid and composed speech. But the words wouldn't come out of his mouth, which she seemed to realize.

She smiled sadly at him, seemingly knowing a response was a lost cause. "Happy Christmas, James. I'll be sure to talk to Slughorn when we get back about changing partners," she turned on her heel, walking out of the library before James even had the chance to say he was sorry.

* * *

Three days later, when Kit was finally back home at the family estate in Oxfordshire and eating her Christmas morning breakfast, she received an owl post. Not knowing who the letter was from since she did not recognize the tan (and admittedly homely looking) barn owl, she quickly snatched the letter off the table, only to see her last name messily scrawled on some parchment. With a quick swipe of her butter knife underneath the seal, she opened the letter.

 _Parker,_

 _I'm sorry I called your parents Death Eaters, I'm sure they're nice people. You're right, I don't know you. The only thing that I know about you is that you're in Slytherin and that was how I made my judgment of you. All my life I was told stories about family members or family friends who were killed by Slytherins and I guess I only saw them one way. I suppose_ _ **not all Slytherins**_ _are that bad (except that Avery kid, I don't really trust him). And you're not a disappointment, a bit too posh, but not a disappointment._

 _Happy Christmas,_

 _James Sirius Potter_

Well shit.

"Plumpy," her mother put down the knife that was currently buttering her toast, "who's that letter from?" Kit hated the family's well-loved nickname for her that stuck after her chubby phase when she was eight.

"Err, it's from my potions partner. He had a question about our homework," Kit fibbed. She did not want her parents to know the real reason why James wrote her. No sooner had she thought this, then had Miles snatched the letter out of her hand from across the table and began to read it aloud.

"Parker," Miles said in what he thought was a good impression of James, "I'm sorry I called your parents Death Eaters..." He got no further before her father yanked the letter out of Miles' hand and furiously began to silently read it.

"Katherine Jayne Parker! Why does this boy think we are Death Eaters?" her mother demanded, while her father continued reading silently.

"Well, he just doesn't like Slytherins in general, but it's okay, I set him straight, mum," Kit mumbled.

"Damn right, you better have set him straight! Who is this boy? I want to have a word with his parents -"

"James _Sirius_ Potter," her father cut her mother off monotonously, while she stared at him in return.

The dining room remained deadly silent, the only sounds heard were the soft murmurs of the house elves downstairs in the kitchen.

"Miles, go upstairs please," her mother said curtly before looking at her husband, all while Kit stared at her pancakes.

"But I want to know why - ugh fine," Miles whined and stomped off towards the gallery and upstairs to his room.

The trio remained silent for a moment until her father asked Kit what exactly happened. From James' coldness on their first day to his avoiding her for months, and finally, to their confrontation in the corridor, Kit left nothing out (except that she told him her parents thought she was a disappointment).

"What did I do wrong?" The words barely came out of her mouth before she burst into tears.

Not used to seeing her normally confident daughter so upset, her mother rushed over to Kit's spot at the dining table and began to rub her back soothingly.

"Plumpy, you did nothing wrong. If James can't see past your house and blood status, then that's his loss. You just have to focus on what's the best for you. And darling, you don't have to forgive him if you don't want to. I just find it odd that he would behave that way, considering who his parents are. Is he a Gryffindor?"

Kit nodded.

"Typical," her mother muttered, before turning serious again. "And is it a common thing, these prejudices?" Again, Kit nodded. Her mother shared a worried look with her father over Kit's head before she continued speaking. "Well don't let him or anyone else get the best of you. The worst thing you can do is let people see you down. I can write to the Potters if you would like. I've known Ginny since school -"

Kit snapped her head up and her face paled. "No, mum, please don't write them. I don't want to be a snitch."

Her mother glanced at her father, who had a vacant look in his eyes before she replied to her daughter.

"Okay, Plumpy. If you're sure. But let us know if you have any more problems, alright?" Kit nodded. "Right, good girl, now why don't you go see where Miles has run off to. And ask Tilly to make you some cookies before Aunt Maggie, Uncle Tommy, and Amelia come over for dinner and presents. This way you and Miles can have some before Amelia devours them all."

Kit smiled a little at her mother's quip and used her napkin to dry her eyes before running off to find Miles and Tilly, one of the family's house elves.

Turning around to face her husband once she was sure that Kit out of range, Morag's true emotions came out.

"Robert, I thought we were past this - this prejudice? Had I known that this would have happened, I would never have let you convince me to tell Kit she could be in whatever house she wanted. I know we weren't entirely happy about it right after the sorting, but I've made my peace with it now, as long as she's happy -"

While his wife continued on with her rant, Robert paced around the room thinking. It seemed like ages had passed when he finally spoke. "I don't think he really knew what he was saying -"

"- Why do you say that?"

"Let me finish," Robert said softly, but firmly, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I don't think the boy knew exactly what he was saying and I don't think we'll have a problem with _him_ saying these things again."

Morag made a face. Her husband took that as his cue to continue. "Kit said that the boy was telling this anecdote to a large group of people, right?" Morag nodded. "Well, he probably just got caught up in all the prejudice from hearing about it from others that when he met a Slytherin that was normal, he just automatically disliked her."

"That's no excuse and he may as well keep doing it - and you know how Slughorn is - they'll be partners till they graduate. I should write Ginny -"

"No. You will do nothing of the sort," he said again, softly, but emphatically, "James won't bother Kit about those things anymore, and you and I both know that Kit can stand up for herself just fine." His wife still didn't look convinced. "We can talk to her if you'd like, explain to her why people saying these things is becoming more common."

* * *

"- I swear, papa. I didn't push Amelia down the stairs! She's lying, just ask Miles!" Kit was ushered into Robert's study later that evening following cousin Amelia's rather sudden departure after _claiming_ that Kit pushed her down the stairs.

"No, darling, you're not in trouble," Robert chuckled and turned towards his wife in amusement, but found her glaring at the copy of _Crooked House_ in Kit's left hand as if it was responsible.

"Then why are we in your study? I was at an important part," Kit returned, sitting down with a slight huff in the cranberry coloured wingback chair opposite her father's kidney-shaped desk. "You only call me in here when I'm in trouble."

Robert conceded a nod; the family generally tended to steer clear of his study. Normally, family discussions were held by Morag in the saloon or the drawing room, depending on the time of day. Yet, Robert felt that the change in venue was justifiable due to the nature of the conversation.

"We wanted to talk to you about something important and felt that this was the best location," Morag said from her spot on the edge of Robert's desk.

Kit furrowed her brow after a moment of consideration. "Is this about what James said?"

"Yes, and no." Robert exchanged a quick glance with Morag before continuing. "We want to explain to you more about your _heritage_."

"What do you mean? I know we're Pureblood and so is mum and Uncle Tommy, but then he married Aunt Margaret and so Amelia is a half-blood. And then there were the wars, and Granny and Grandpa Parker died then, but you never told me how -"

"- That's not suitable for you to hear about at this time -" Robert replied sternly, but quietly.

Morag interrupted her husband, distracting him from a topic that would no doubt cause him distress. "Darling, you do know that just because you're a pureblood, you're not better than anyone else, right?"

"Of course I know that, but there are some kids at school that make fun of purebloods and it's not fair!" Kit exclaimed. "There are these awful Hufflepuff fifth years who pick on my friend Tobey Zabini and they tell him that he's 'cestously' bred."

Robert and Morag looked at each other over Kit's head, more than slightly alarmed at the behavior Kit just described, even if she couldn't properly say the word incestuous.

"It's not right of those students to do that, I'm sure they heard it from their parents or read it in the paper. But make sure you're on the lookout and you always have Rory if you need anything." Kit blushed at the mention of the second year Slytherin (more on him later). "There are some witches and wizards that believe all purebloods to be nefarious and pureblood supremacists, of which we are certainly not," Robert concluded emphatically.

Morag nodded. "The Ministry is also going through some _issues_ regarding this as well, so it's important that you stay up on these things. Always make sure you read _The Prophet_ \- daily and weekend."

Kit nodded and Morag's voice turned soft as she let out her next sentence. "Plumpy, it's going to be hard for you in the next few years and your father and I know you have big ambitions, so it's important that you don't give people a chance to view you as anything less than you are. You're exceedingly clever and charming and -"

"- We're very proud of you, no matter what house you're in," Robert concluded with a smile directed at Kit and his wife.

Kit smiled widely, before getting up to give both her parents a big hug, glad to finally get rid of her feelings of inadequacy. "I love you," she mumbled into her father's chest, while her mother ran her hands through her hair.

"We love you too, Plumpy."

All was well - for now.

* * *

 _Dear James,_

 _Okay. See you in school._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Katherine Jayne Parker_

James sighed deeply as he placed the note from Parker (on personalized stationery no less) on his bed at his house in Godric's Hollow. He still felt really shitty about the whole thing and he honestly had no clue why he told Maisie, Olivia, and Jack all that stuff about her.

Parker wasn't _that_ bad. A little too posh for his tastes, but not terrible.

He made her cry for Merlin's sake.

She tried to hide it, but he definitely saw the tears pooling in her eyes. He almost ran after her to apologize, but something kept him rooted to his spot: she called him Potter.

Now as long as James had known Parker (which really wasn't that long, but that was beside the point), she never once called him Potter. It was always James. Even when he spilled their Wiggenweld potion on her, she called him James. Or when he refused to help her with her potions' essay, she called him James.

And to hear the venom in her voice when she called him _Potter_ made him feel terrible, granted probably not as terrible as he made her feel, but he still felt wretched.

He told his friends to go off without him, and instead wandered around the castle for about an hour, just walking (ie. skiving off Transfiguration) and thinking about what he said about her, but most importantly, what she said to him.

And that was when he ran into Teddy Lupin. Being Mr. Morality Head Boy, Teddy was the last person James wanted to see at that moment.

"James!"

The Gryffindor stopped in his tracks and pivoted around to face his godbrother. "Just heard what happened in the corridor. Care to share?"

"No," he said softly.

"Hmm, well we can't have that, now can we?" Teddy sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. James joined him and the pair sat in silence for a few moments.

"I wish I didn't say anything," James whispered.

"You wish you didn't say anything, or you wish she hadn't heard what you said?"

James looked at Teddy. "I wish I didn't say anything. She doesn't deserve it, no matter what house she's in. And, I just - I only said something because Maisie was talking about how awful this sixth year Slytherin boy was to her yesterday and then Jack said something about some first-year Slytherin girl, and I thought he meant _her_ , but apparently he meant Nora Pucey and then…" James wiped a tear from his eye, embarrassed.

Teddy bumped James's shoulder with his own. "Just apologize to her. If you feel this terrible about it, just imagine how she feels." James's eyes widened and Teddy quickly tried to placate him. "I mean, no, don't think of that right now, just think of how you can make it up to her. Apologize, trust me - and do it in person, it'll really make a difference."

"Maybe…"

Teddy glared at James. "Do it," his voice left no room for question.

Needless to say, James didn't really _do it_. Instead, he pussied out when Parker approached him in the library and wrote her an apology letter, which she replied to in typical Parker fashion: formally.

She honestly wasn't _that_ terrible, a little posh and her humour was terribly dry, but she was smart as hell, even for First Year. He resolved to be more _open_ towards her in the coming months, not chummy, but _open_ -

"James!" Lily burst into his room, practically bouncing on her feet in excitement, "come downstairs, I want to play Quidditch on my new broom!"

James smiled at his little sister, happy to have a distraction from his thoughts. "I'll be right down, but why don't you wake up Al, I'm _positive_ that he'd be glad to see you.'

"Really?"

James nodded his head. "Trust me, and make sure you jump on his bed too!"

"Okay, I'll tell him you said that," the eight-year-old scampered out of her older brother's room.

"No, wait, Lily, don't tell him I said that!" James shouted down the hall, only to stop when he heard Al's shouts. All thoughts of Katherine Parker soon forgotten.

* * *

Monday morning double potions were never particularly enjoyable, especially after the holiday break. As Kit clambered into class that morning, she was expecting the same monotonous pattern that she experienced first term: James ignoring her and as a result, them making shitty potions. However, that morning took a turn the moment she walked into class.

James was already seated at their station.

Quite surprised and a little peeved not to be there before him, Kit cautiously made her way over to their desk.

"Alright, Parker?" he said.

Kit looked at him warily. "Alright." She stretched out the word as she placed her notebook and quill on her side of the desk.

James was about to say something more when Slughorn cleared his throat to begin class. "I hope you all had a wonderful break, and I'm sure that you all reviewed the process on how to make a Wideye Potion, yes?"

Some of the class, James, and Kit included nodded while several other students, most notably James's cousins, Fred and Roxanne, turned ironically wide-eyed. Slughorn smiled and let out a little chuckle.

"No matter, no matter. The snake fangs are on my desk and everything else is in the storeroom. You have both periods to prep for brewing and we shall check the final potion in class on Wednesday."

The first years began chatting idly as they divided up the tasks among their partners. Planning on going to the storeroom herself to get the ingredients, Kit was shocked to hear James' voice break through the idle chatter.

"Do you want me to get the ingredients while you get the snake fangs?"

Kit smiled softly to mask her surprise. "Yeah, that'd be great, James."


	2. Chapter 2

" **Shotgun"**

 **Or**

" **Brothers, Cousins, and Quidditch"**

 **A/N: all credit for the HP universe goes to JKR and the song choice goes to George Ezra and s/o to Barbara Lewis for last chapter's.**

"How about you, Kit? How was your summer?" Corey asked, causing Kit to avert her gaze from the doors of the Great Hall, where her brother, Miles, would pass through in moments, to Corey and the other girls.

"You all pretty much know the gist of it," Kit said, referring to the sporadic letters she had sent the girls all summer. "We went to our house in St. Caroline for most of it. Only problem was that my troll of a cousin was there, as well. But, uh, you guys should come next summer, it's always really fun."

The girls all nodded and continued to discuss their summers (Marlene stayed home and listened to her parents argue and went to field hockey camp, Corey visited family in the north and went to the beaches in America, and Vivian and her older sister Isabelle went to visit both their dads' parents in Turkey and Yorkshire), until they were interrupted by McGonagall's call for attention to begin the sorting.

Kit was both nervous and excited for Miles's sorting. He confided in her that, after seeing her be placed in Slytherin, he really didn't care which house he was placed in, though Kit knew him to be a perfect fit for Ravenclaw.

Not only was Miles extremely smart and witty, but he also had the whole double legacy thing going for him from both her parents (and grandparents, and great grandparents and so on and so forth) placement in the house. Well, so did Kit - anyways - there was a small part of her that hoped Miles would be in Slytherin.

He _was_ very ambitious after all.

So, after _Malfoy, Scorpius_ was sorted into Slytherin and _McLaggen, Fitzwilliam_ and _McLaggen Moira_ were sorted into Gryffindor, where they were enthusiastically embraced by their older sister India and brother Tiberius, Professor Longbottom called _Parker, Miles_.

The Sorting Hat seemed to be at odds about where to sort Miles, if the three minutes that had already passed were any consolation. Kit could have even sworn that Miles looked her dead in the eyes and smiled at her at one point. She even allowed herself to get her hopes up for just one minute that he would be one of her housemates, until the Sorting Hat's voice reverberated across the hall.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Her heart sank, and she could have sworn she saw a look of disappointment flicker across her brother's face as well, but it was quickly replaced with a smile directed at his new housemates.

Kit had to hold back a laugh when she saw Miles completely rebuff her cousin Amelia's congratulatory hug. Serves the bint right; she was rude and snobbish to Kit and Miles all summer.

Kit was about to tune out the rest of the sorting, when she heard the next name being called.

" _Potter, Albus_."

She'd be lying if she said that her gaze didn't turn towards a gangly brown-haired boy at the Gryffindor table. They reached an understanding of sorts last year after the holiday break, which carried on throughout the rest of the second term. They weren't friends, nor were they enemies. They just lived a relatively peaceful coexistence _and_ made excellent potions.

James seemed to notice her starring for he suddenly looked up at Kit from across the hall. She blushed when he gave her a small smile. They were still staring at each other when the Sorting Hat shouted "SLYTHERIN" and James's smile was instantly replaced with a scowl. Kit couldn't quite believe her ears either.

Albus Potter was a Slytherin.

Quite an interesting development, really. Albus looked rather pleased with himself, unlike James whose face was fixed into a probably permanent scowl. The sorting continued normally after that, well normally other than Rose Weasley's placement into Ravenclaw, which any other year would have caused quite a stir, had it not been for Albus. The feast finally began shortly afterwards and all anyone could talk about was the recent sorting.

"Now that we've got Potter Junior, maybe everyone else will finally get off our backs," Vivian said hopefully.

"I doubt it. If anything, they'll be even worse, thinking that we're going to 'corrupt him' or something," Charles Avery said, edging his way into the second year girls's conversation, along with his friends, Tobias Zabini, Lucas Montague, and Josh Flint.

The second year Slytherins had an _interesting_ dynamic, to say the least. Kit, Marlene, Corey, and Vivian got on quite well with Charlie, Tobey, Lucas, and Josh, yet the eight rarely conversed with the four _rogue_ second year Slytherins: Gemma Warrington, Xavier Urquart, Nora Pucey, and Adam Nott.

Kit did not consider them _evil_ , per se, but they did personify the sort of Slytherins that the rest of the Wizarding World thought they all were: pureblood supremacists that picked on muggleborns.

In first year, after two months of school, Vivian gave up all attempts to talk to Gemma and Nora after they (well, mainly Nora) insulted her dad Terry's squib sister. Needless to say, they had since been regulated to their own section of the dormitory.

After getting bored of trading theories with the guys (Lucas thought that Albus was secretly an informant for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and would trade secrets with James for the next six years), Kit looked for the man of the hour down the table from her.

Albus looked more like his father than James did. He had messy black hair, in contrast to James' messy strawberry brown hair, and his green eyes were framed with glasses, whereas James had brown eyes and Kit noticed that he only wore his reading glasses on occasion. Albus also didn't have those freckles that tended to dot James's cheeks after time in the sun or the carefree smile James had whenever Max told him a joke in class - not that she paid attention.

But what really struck Kit about the famous other Potter was that he was sitting next to none other than Scorpius Malfoy and engaged in what appeared to be a rather heated debate about Quidditch from the looks of their wild hand gestures.

The Malfoys had really changed after the war. They were no longer really in the spotlight, other than when Draco performed an important surgery at St. Mungos. And Scorpius was an alright bloke, albeit a little shy.

Kit had met him at a Ministry function once when she was nine and wanted nothing more than to go home and finish _Murder on the Orient Express_. So, naturally, she caused quite a ruckus and was sent to timeout where she met Scorpius, who had also been placed in timeout for pulling on the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt's, dress robes. They quickly made a pact to leave as soon as possible, which resulted in a cake being dropped on Shacklebolt's niece's dress.

Needless to say, Kit hadn't been to a Ministry function since (it wasn't like she was banned for life or anything, it was just a small five-year probationary period, which her mother, Morag, was most unhappy about).

But Kit wasn't the only one who seemed to notice Albus sitting with Scorpius; James also saw them from across the hall and if his expression was any indication, he was _not_ happy.

"...Prefects, please lead your new housemates to their common rooms. Goodnight and make sure to wake up early to get your schedules tomorrow morning!" Headmistress McGonagall concluded, snapping Kit out of her thoughts.

"Come on guys, let's go, I want to beat the rush for the couches," Marlene said to her fellow second years.

With much pushing and shoving, the girls finally got out of the Great Hall and were about to continue to the dungeons after getting the password from Stacey Finch, one of the sixth-year prefects, when Kit heard someone shout her name.

"Parker!"

"Oh Merlin, it's him," Corey whispered, before rushing away with a blushing Marlene and a bewildered Vivian. Kit turned around to see that the source of the shouting was none other than James.

"Parker." He approached her, a little breathless from his jog over.

"Alright, James? Have a nice summer?" she said politely.

"Yeah, sure, anyways, I need you to do me a favour."

Kit raised her eyebrows at him. "What's in it for me?"

"Ever the Slytherin…" he murmured.

"I mean I could just not do it…" She moved away slowly.

"Fine, fine. I'll help you with your potions homework for the rest of the year -"

"Shouldn't you do that anyway? We _are_ partners -"

"Would you shut up," he sighed, "could you just keep an eye on Albus?"

Kit frowned at his odd request. She wondered why he was asking her, but she supposed that she was really the only Slytherin that James moderately tolerated. Moderately being the operative word.

"I suppose, but it seems like he's already making friends. Malfoy's quite nice -"

" _Especially_ keep an eye on Malfoy and Albus," James said emphatically. They were now both alone in the Entrance Hall barring a few random sixth year Hufflepuffs who looked like they were headed for Greenhouse Three (which was notorious for its _exotic_ plants).

"He's not that bad -"

"- He's a Slytherin!"

Kit rolled her eyes, sick of repeating last year's argument. "So am I and so is your brother, so you better get over it quickly, unless you want to fall out with him. You don't see me throwing a fit because my brother isn't in my house."

James sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "But you're both... _different_. You're nice - like forty - no - thirty percent of the time and, like you said, Al is my brother, but Malfoy...I don't know him, and I just don't want anything to happen to Al, okay?"

Kit took a deep breath. "Fine James, I'll keep an eye on him." He smiled at her. "But you better help me with our potions homework. I don't want shitty marks again," she teased.

"Thanks, Parker," he concluded seriously and moved to walk in the opposite direction down the hall, when Kit's voice stopped him.

"Hey!" He turned around. "You're not going to let me go unescorted to my common room in the middle of the night, are you? Where's that chivalry you Gryffindors are always bragging about?" She smirked, not quite knowing where this sudden spurt of bold behavior came from.

He made a face at her. "I'm pretty sure you're more than capable of returning to your common room alone, so I'm going to go with no."

"Fine, I won't watch Albus for you."

"Bloody hell, Parker -"

"Language, James."

He glared at her before walking in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room. Satisfied, Kit followed.

"Thanks, Jamie," she said sweetly, only to have him grunt in return.

James was not happy. First of all, his younger brother was sorted into his rival house, which would be hell once Albus was eligible to play Quidditch. Second, Albus befriended Scorpius Malfoy of all people. (Merlin, that was just what James needed, Albus to befriend a Malfoy.) And _then_ , he had to walk Parker back to her common room and help her with her potions homework for the rest of the year because the bloody Slytherin couldn't do a favour out of the goodness of her posh, little heart.

Sod his Gryffindor chivalry. Sod it all.

Parker hadn't said a peep since they had left the Entrance Hall and it was bugging the hell out of him. Whenever they spoke, James always wondered if she would bring up his letter, but she never did. Even when they came back from holiday break last year, she didn't say anything about it; she just carried on normally.

She scared James sometimes - loathe as he was to admit it, it was true. She had this whole persona about her that unnerved him. It made him - well he didn't know - it made him feel _odd_. Like he couldn't decide if it was a good or bad feeling: it was just there.

Katherine Parker just seemed to know about everything about everyone. She had half the professors eating out of the palm of her hand because she actually gave a shit about her studies, while the rest of the, now, second-year students seemed to live in fear of her venerable gossip empire. She was intimidating as hell.

James noticed that she kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, as if she wanted to say something. She looked different this year. Her hair looked lighter - still brown - but lighter and she acquired a tan of sorts (he had a vague recollection of her having a house on the coast?). She looked... _cute_.

He almost stopped at the realization. No, he could _not_ fancy a Slytherin. No way -

"James stop staring at me. It's weird." Shit he'd been staring at her for too long. He blushed and looked ahead.

"Don't flatter yourself Parker, you've got some treacle tart on your face," he fibbed.

"I do not!"

He shrugged as she rubbed her face.

They finally reached the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room a few moments later. The place really gave James the creeps. It _was_ partially under the Black Lake after all. Not that he'd been in there that often. The ceiling just rained glitter one day by _accident_ and the suits of armor just _happened_ to scare people when they walked by.

You know, they still hadn't pinned down the culprit…

"Well, what do you know, we're here. Goodnight Parker, pleasant dreams," he hurried out, anxious to get away from Parker for fear of his new _thoughts_ regarding her.

She smirked at him, as if sensing his discomfort. "Thanks, James. See you tomorrow in potions," she concluded with fake sweetness before muttering the password and slipping into her common room.

James thought she looked pretty cute in the torchlight - _no stop. She's not cute. She's a bloody snake._ He repeated that over and over in his head until he reached the Gryffindor Common Room.

Merlin, it was going to be a long year.

"Where have you been?" James's cousin Fred asked him after he waltzed into the second-year boys' dormitory.

"Walking," James said shortly.

Merlin, if they knew that James had been with Parker and spent the last twenty minutes trying not to think about her, they would punch him - never mind hex him - into the next century.

"You disappeared right after the sorting," Jack Wood said.

"Well, I had to talk to someone."

"Yeah, yeah," Teddy Crawley said, suddenly coming out of the bathroom, "we all saw you talking to Parker, don't deny it."

Fred, Jack, Teddy, and hell even Billy Clarke, their fifth roommate, were all staring at him, waiting for him to deny it. However, Max remained silent, though he did give James a knowing look.

"Alright fine, I went to go talk to Parker about Al. She said she would keep an eye on him."

Teddy scoffed. "Really? You're trusting Parker to not have your brother turned into a slimy snake?"

"Well, she's not that bad -"

"She's a snake! It doesn't matter if she's not _that bad_!" Fred exclaimed.

"Merlin James and I thought you had more sense!" Billy added.

The four boys all turned to stare at James, willing him to say something. He wanted to tell Fred that his brother, and by extension Fred's cousin, was a _Snake_ , but instead, he moved to sit on his bed. Being in Slytherin was still an issue for some people. James would have to talk to Albus about it tomorrow, just in case any other family members had an issue with Albus's sorting.

And he didn't want to tell them that he actually liked talking to Parker sometimes. Like when she wasn't complaining about how bored or tired she was during class. Or when she wasn't being snarky. Well, actually, that was pretty funny, but he couldn't tell the lads that. He'd rather go through six more years of not being friends with Katherine Parker, than lose his friendship with his mates.

He took a deep breath, "I guess." They all smiled at him before going back to organizing their trunks, except for Max.

Max gave James another disbelieving look that made James' stomach tie in knots. He knew that Max actually liked Parker and she felt the same about him. Last March, when he asked Max how he seemed to know such random stuff about her, like where she grew up and how she got along with her brother, Max confided that the two became friends on the Hogwarts Express along with Marlene Fawley.

It was actually after this that James realized that Parker wasn't the typical Slytherin or pureblood if she was so willing to befriend a muggleborn. And that Max was a better Gryffindor for befriending a Slytherin.

Merlin, he really had to talk to Al.

"Hello, Plumpy," a voice said from behind Kit as she was eating her breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning. The House Elves were serving waffles today and nothing, not even Amelia's unwelcome presence was going to ruin that.

Kit hated her cousin Amelia.

Now, being the same age, one would assume that the two would be close, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

To put it mildly, Amelia was a real witch. She picked on younger Slytherin students with some of her Ravenclaw housemates and constantly tried to make others feel bad for their heritage.

She was petty and jealous because Kit had a more _privileged_ lifestyle than her - though that's not to say that the Parker-Sloane's weren't well off. Quite the contrary, they lived in a nice Tudor house in Buckinghamshire.

But they didn't live in _Ashbury Park_ , the Parker Family Estate in Oxfordshire, nor did they get to stay at the MacDougal Family summer home, _Blackwater_ , in St. Caroline for the entire summer (Aunt Margaret didn't have the luxury of an _early retirement_ like her mother).

See, Thomas Parker, Amelia's father, was the second son, younger than her father by just two years. And poor Uncle Tommy just really had shit luck.

Born in the post First Wizarding War baby boom, Thomas John Parker was established early on as the second favorite. Sorted into Ravenclaw, like Kit's father, Uncle Tommy had a rather uneventful sojourn at Hogwarts. He didn't play Quidditch, he wasn't in the infamous Slugclub, nor was he Head Boy. He was just - there.

When her paternal grandparents died (in a manner undisclosed to Kit) in 1997, her father, fresh out of Hogwarts, inherited _Ashbury Park_. He got a job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, while Uncle Tommy graduated Hogwarts a year after the close of the Second Wizarding War and went on to a rather uneventful career in the Ministry.

But unlike her father, Uncle Tommy didn't quickly rise through the ranks and instead stayed in the Office for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts. It was there, on a journey into London to investigate the misuse of some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, that he met Aunt Margaret.

Margaret "Maggie" Amelia Sloane was a muggle university student who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time or, maybe in her case, the right place at the right time, because she and Uncle Tommy hit it off and got married three months later just after her graduation from City College in London.

Now that's a rather quick courtship. Why did they get married so quickly? Was it the all-consuming love? Well, no. Rather it was that Aunt Margaret was up the duff and her parents wanted the couple to be married before the _child_ was born.

Charming, really. But that was how dear, _sweet_ Amelia Evelyn Parker-Sloane came into the family. But Kit came five months later, so Amelia became inconsequential rather quickly. And from then on, the girls hadn't gotten along.

"What do you want?" Kit said to Amelia, looking up from her plate with a bored expression.

Amelia pretended to look innocent. "I just wanted to see if my dear cousin was alright after her own brother didn't want to be in the same house as her."

Kit clenched her jaw. She knew Amelia was just trying to get a rise out of her: Miles really wouldn't have minded being in Slytherin...

"I, for one, am just grateful that we won't have another blight on the Parker family record, I mean one Slytherin is bad enough, but two and in a time like this? Now that would be a real tragedy."

Kit smirked, not letting Amelia's words get to her. "But you're not even a Parker. You're a Parker- _Sloane_ , and that has already - what was the word you used?"

"- Blighted," Vivian said helpfully.

"Thank you, Viv. Yes, _blighted_ the family record. I'm afraid that me being a Slytherin isn't going to change that." Amelia narrowed her eyes in anger at Kit's words. "Now don't you have to run off and torture some first years? Isn't that the only thing you and your friends do anyway?"

"Ugh!" Amelia stopped her foot and left the Slytherin table in anger.

"Merlin, that was exhausting," Marlene said tiredly.

Kit groaned. "And no one ever believes me when I say how mean she is!"

They girls gave noncommittal hums in response and went back to their breakfasts.

"Yes, it's here," Corey's voice rang through the air and the three girls all looked up in confusion at their friend, who was standing up in excitement as her barn owl, Quincy, landed on the table clutching a large package.

"What's here?" Vivian asked as she tried to grab at the wrappings on the package. Corey smacked her hand away. "OW!"

"Bint," Corey muttered before continuing cheerfully. "My mother ordered me a new broom for quidditch tryouts - it's an early _Hanukkah_ present...and birthday present...and _bat mitzvah_ present..." Corey quickly unwrapped the large parcel as the other girls looked on curiously.

The broom was a sleek _Firebolt 10_ series with a goblin-made iron bipod. And even though Kit wasn't much of a flyer as she was a lover of Quidditch, she could appreciate the fine craftsmanship that was the _Firebolt 10_.

The four second years sat speechless around the table as they looked at the broomstick. "Crickey," Marlene was the first to speak, "Cor, your parents must really love you."

Vivian chuckled. "Or they just really want her to make the Quidditch team."

"Cor, that's an amazing broom, you'll be ace now!" Kit enthused.

Corey still couldn't take her eyes off the broom. "Mum and dad really went all out, I hope I still make the team -"

"- Oh, don't worry Chang, you definitely won't make the team," Charlie Avery said from further down the table.

Blushing at Charlie's words and the attention they brought, Corey let out a huff. "You know it's Chang-Davies, _Charles_ ," she spat, "and I'll have you know that I will be on the team this year, just wait and see."

"I bloody well doubt that, you're so slight. Doesn't the wind knock you over?"

Kit stopped looking at the fine piece of craftsmanship that was the _Firebolt 10_ to give Charlie a smirk. "Corey flies so fast the wind can't even catch up with her. She's the best beater Hogwarts has seen since the War."

"You better watch out, Avery. Corey's gonna kill it." Marlene backed her friend up from across the table, while Vivian flipped Charlie off.

As if she regained her spark, Corey snatched the broom off the table. "You know what girls, I think I want to try my broom out before tryouts tomorrow, does anyone want to try it, as well?" she asked her friends, knowing Charlie would be jealous.

The girls all nodded.

"Of course, Cor. We'll also need to scout out our spot in the stands, so we can cheer for our best friend during the games." Vivian smirked at Charlie and the four girls strutted out of the Great Hall in spectacular, and fierce, fashion.

Once they were outside in the fresh, autumn air, they finally lost their composure and dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Merlin, did you see his face? I hope he ruins all his potions or spills ink on his essays for the rest of the year." Marlene smiled once she finished, what she thought was, a good insult.

Laughter again emanated from the four girls, but it was Kit who spoke next. "Wait a minute, Cor. You _can_ fly, right?"

Corey shot her a look and Kit thwacked her girl on the arm. Unphased by the display of violence, Marlene linked her arm with Kit, who then linked hers with Corey, who begrudgingly linked hers with Vivian. As the four friends then began down the path to the Quidditch Pitch, Kit vowed that the three of them would do anything in their power to get Corey on the Quidditch Team.

"Al, there you are. I've been looking all over for you."

Al gave him a look. "It doesn't look like you've moved…"

James furrowed his brow, almost insulted at the clapback, and got up from his seat in the library. "Whatever, the point is, I've been looking for you."

The two brothers quickly made their way out of the quiet library and into the noisy corridor. James really wanted to have background noise for this conversation: he feared that Albus would get too emotional and try and hug him and shit.

They finally settled a little way away from the library and leaned against one of the alcoves that looked out onto the grounds.

"Listen, Al," James began nervously, "I don't want you to - I mean I hope what I said before you got on the train didn't make you upset - you know, about you being in Slytherin," he took a deep breath and hoped he displayed a maturity greater than that of his twelve years, "I'm proud of you, whichever house you're in."

Albus smiled at his older brother and let out a deep breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in. "Thanks, James. It actually means a lot. No offense, but I didn't anticipate you having the most _positive_ reaction…"

"Well," James huffed, actually a little offended, "I'm actually much more mature than you make me out to be." Never mind the fact that he probably wouldn't have told Al all this if he hadn't spoken to Parker right after the Sorting. Speaking of Parker…

"Oh, and I've arranged to have one of my... _acquaintances_ to keep an eye on you."

Laughing slightly, Albus responded. "You mean Kit?"

"How the hell did you know that?"

Albus chuckled and ignored James's question, intent on asking one of his own. "She introduced herself to me - you know, you never told us she was fit..."

" _Fit_? Katherine Parker is not _fit_." Al hummed at James' outrage, knowing that his brother definitely noticed how _fit_ the girl was. "She's just the only person who I would deem _suitable_ to keep an eye on you." He purposely omitted the word trust because he didn't not trust Katherine Parker as far as he could throw her.

"Glad you deem me _suitable_ to have a babysitter," Albus bristled.

James tried not to roll his eyes, intent on not fighting with Al in the middle of the library corridor. "Whatever, just know I'm not mad at you." Al smiled at his brother went to go in for a hug. "Woah, woah," James backed off, "not in the corridor, jesh. I have to practice for quidditch anyways."

Trying to look put out that James rebuffed his hug, Albus hung his head. "Guess my big brother thinks quidditch is more important than I am…"

James tried really hard to suppress his smile, but his resolve wore out. "Yup, somebody has to beat the snakes in quidditch. Might get off the reserves this year, the keeper graduated last year."

"Fine, fine. Go ahead, leave me all alone."

After the War, Quidditch at Hogwarts had only grown in popularity.

It helped that people weren't dying all the time, but James liked to think it had a little to do with Little League Quidditch, which Jack's dad, Oliver created after he retired from Puddlemere United. Not to brag or anything, but for five years, James was the best keeper on his team, the Whomping Willows of Wiltshire.

Because of his undeniable prowess on the quidditch pitch backed by five years of little league, James thought he would make the Gryffindor team as a first year, just like his father. Harry, kindly, told James all summer that he most likely would not make the team and would probably end up on the reserves, but James didn't want to hear it.

James wanted to be the best and making the reserves last year didn't really make him feel like the best. So, he stayed after during practices last year, always offered to help the team in any way he could, whether it was bringing back equipment or manning the other hoops during practice, and James made sure that he practiced all bloody summer.

He had to make the starting roster this year, he just had to. Abigail Longbottom, last year's keeper, wasn't playing this year due to her duties as Head Girl, so it was between James and Tiberius McLaggen, a fourth year and one of the four McLaggens (out of six total) currently at Hogwarts.

And since this was Hogwarts and this was quidditch, half the bloody school came out to watch trials. It was almost as big of a deal as a game. James had even heard that Charles Avery and Peter Norrington, a Slytherin and Hufflepuff in James's year, were running some sort of betting pool for who would make which team.

But it would be fine because James would finally make the quidditch team. He had to, really.

"Alright, James?" Jack Wood asked as he approached James on the pitch.

The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams had already completed their tryouts, which James naively hoped would clear out the bulk of the students, but if anything, only more seemed to show up.

"Alright, Wood. Think Damien will go easy on you?" James said, referring to Jack's older brother Damien, a sixth-year beater who was also the Gryffindor Captain that year.

Jack stretched his arms. "He's been drilling me all bloody summer. I don't think he knows what it means to 'go easy on someone.' He's just like my father."

"I know the feeling." James smiled good-naturedly at Jack and began his own stretches.

James got on with Jack a little bit better than he did with his other roommates, Teddy Crawley and Billy Clarke. Max was James's best mate, but Jack was a close second.

The two became fast friends first year due to their mutual love of quidditch and the imposing demands of their families. Jack's parents Oliver and Katie wanted nothing more than for Jack to be a professional quidditch player, which would have been a stretch had Jack not been bloody fantastic at quidditch.

James could relate. Well, not to the prodigy-level quidditch skills, but the family demands. His parents loved him, and he loved them, but they expected a lot from him, even if they didn't really say it.

It was a not-so-secret secret that Al was his father's favourite and that Lily was his mum's favourite. That's just how it was. And James desperately wanted to prove them wrong this year. He would make the quidditch team and get amazing marks in all his classes.

So, James and Jack worked together last year to hone their quidditch skills, so they were ready for this fall. It helped that Jack was a chaser and James was a keeper.

"Alright, gather round. The crowd's getting restless." Damien Wood's voice broke James from his thoughts.

A crowd of about thirty Gryffindors had gathered on the pitch, to say nothing of the mass of people in the stands. There were only four spots open on the team this year: keeper, beater, and two chasers. But fortunately for James, he only had to go up against the aforementioned Tiberius McLaggen for the keeper position. He could do this - Tiberius was a bit a git, so it was really hard to tell how much skill he actually had and how much of it was talk.

"We're going to start with four laps around the pitch, then do some speed and agility training, followed by a ten-minute scrimmage. Results will be posted sometime this evening in the common room, with practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6:00. Any questions?"

James thought he saw Jacob Goldstein's hand go up, but Damien ignored him. "Alright, we'll go in groups of ten for the laps, no cutting the corners. My lovely assistant, Millie McLaggen, will direct you all towards the starting mark." Damien gestured toward Millie, the seventh year and seeker, who looked less than pleased with being called out.

The first two groups went through the four laps and agility training with ease, James and Jack included. The only hiccup was in the third group when a fourth-year girl crashed into one of the hoops. Thankfully, Madame Klein was on hand to bring her to the hospital wing.

Then, it was time for the ten minute scrimmage, which was where James was really hoping to shine. Tiberius was a little wobbly during the agility training, which James saw Damien take note of in his playbook. If James stopped all the shots on him, he might just make it.

Blake Abbott nearly scored on James once, but James managed to block the quaffle just in time, while he easily blocked shots from both Declan Finnigan and Pooja Patel. Tiberius had already let in two goals and seven of the ten minutes had already passed.

While the action was on the other end of the pitch for once, James saw a flash of green and a large white object in the stands. Making sure that he was truly free from any rogue quaffles, James quickly hazarded a glance into the stands and noticed that the large white object was actually a sign.

"COREY CHANG-DAVIES 4 BEATER 2K17"

It didn't really rhyme, but it looked decent. Wait, wasn't Chang-Davies one of Parker's friends?

James looked back on the pitch, only for the players to still be battling it out of the other end. Again, making sure he wasn't in any danger, James looked over in the stands to see a group of girls gushing over their friend wearing quidditch robes and sure enough it was Parker and her Slytherin contingent.

Parker didn't really seem like the bird to frequent and or play quidditch, so James wasn't entirely sure what she was doing there. He knew she had a brother, but he was just a first year and - Merlin's Beard! Was Corey Chang-Davies holding the _Firebolt 10_?

What James wouldn't give for a _Firebolt 10_. His _Firebolt 8_ was still in excellent condition, but the _10_ was really something. Apparently, the stabilizers were so advanced that you could even have a cuppa on it and it wouldn't spill.

Well shit. That meant Corey Chang-Davies was trying out for the Slytherin quidditch team. Huh. If she made it, Kit would definitely come to the games. James pondered that for a moment

Shit, he really had to stop the quaffle coming right at him. He swooped down to the right hoop and kicked the quaffle away in the nick of time.

One more minute and he'd have saved two more goals than Tiberius.

And he would make the quidditch team.

And certain people would then get to watch him play quidditch...

 **A/N: Yay, so that's the second chapter. The quidditch was a bit tough to write, but I felt it was necessary to get a couple plot points down! I'll be doing a chapter per year up until 6th year when things get a** _ **little**_ **crazier. I pretty much have the third chapter written, it just needs some edits. Thanks for reviewing and following!**


	3. Chapter 3

**"Treacherous"**

 **Or**

 **"Moneypenny?"**

 **A/N: JKR owns HP and TSwift owns the song, I just own my characters.**

In James' opinion, the world's greatest evils could be comprised of a list of four truly terrible things:

1.) Younger brothers who were total prats

2.) Voldemort (that one was a given)

3.) Being denied Bent-Winged Snitches tickets for your 14th birthday because the concerts "get too rowdy"

4.) First period double potions on a Monday morning

The latter of which he was currently suffering through. And, as if that wasn't enough, he also fell off his broom during the Quidditch match on Saturday against Hufflepuff when a "rogue" bludger hit him in the arm. Logan Chambers, the Hufflepuff beater, apologized profusely after the match, but James didn't really trust him or any Hufflepuff for that matter - they were all too bloody nice. He was just glad it wasn't against Slytherin - apparently, Chang-Davies really packed a punch with her new beater bat.

"You broke your arm?" Parker seethed, slipping into her seat next to James in potions. Oh yeah, and the fall may have broken his arm.

"It's not like I planned it, Parker," he drawled.

She glared at him as she got out her parchment and quill in a huff. "How, in Merlin's name, am I supposed to get a decent grade if my potions partner is a cripple? Hmm? Did you ever think of that?"

James smirked and laid his right hand on his heart. "And to think, some people just send cards and flowers, but you - your words of sympathy mean the world to me. So, thank you, Parker. For that, I am truly touched."

"Piss off."

He continued to speak as if he hadn't heard her reply. "I'm just _so_ hurt that I didn't get this _heartfelt_ apology the other day. It would have really lifted my post-match spirits to see your _charming_ face at my sickbed, for your smile lights up an entire room."

This time, it was her turn to smirk. "Oh, James, had I known that I would have leapt out of the stands, rushed onto the field, and cradled your limp body in my arms. I just thought that it would have been in poor taste what with all your other admirers around."

James furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't notice her at the game on Saturday. Not that he was looking for her. "You were there?"

"Of course, I was there. I love Quidditch, just because I can't play for shit, doesn't mean I don't love to watch. You know we go to Puddlemere games a lot when I'm home -"

"- Typical," James muttered under his breath. Kit shot him a glare but continued speaking.

"Corey and I go to all the school games, even when Slytherin isn't playing. She goes for player research and I help her out. You know, you played quite well on Saturday. You had a lot of great saves."

James found himself blushing at her words. "Well tha-thanks, Parker," he cleared his throat, "I appreciate that." He turned back to his forward position in the hopes that she wouldn't see his blush.

"Well, I mean you played well until you got that bludger to the arm and fell off your broom. Honestly James, even I saw that one coming," she interrupted. So much for a nice moment.

They momentarily stopped their conversation once Slughorn called for the class's attention to begin brewing their shrinking solutions. "Say Parker, why don't you get all the ingredients, seeing as I'm a cripple and all," James smirked.

Parker frowned at him. "Last time I checked you broke your arm not your bloody legs, so you better get a move on."

He shook his head and got up to walk with Parker to the supply cupboard. "Weren't you always the one who said we have to get good marks?" He leaned against the cupboard with his left shoulder as he watched her. "Can't have that if you're not pulling your weight."

She let out a groan and breezed past him. "Why are you being such an arse today?"

James laughed as he got out their cauldron. "Quiet down, Moneypenny."

"What the hell is a 'Moneypenny?'" Parker said as she juiced the Shrivelfigs. India McLaggen and Max turned around to investigate the source of the noise but quickly turned back around once they realized it was only James and Kit.

"Godric, again with the language," James muttered. Parker glared at him. "Alright, alright," he held up his good hand, "I was watching some muggle thing called a _film_ at Max's this summer and it was about this completely hardcore auror bloke, but muggle, and there was this spitfire secretary -"

"A secretary!" she bristled, "Of all things…"

"Hush, Moneypenny. And yes, a secretary. She gave the muggle auror bloke all this sass and she reminded me of you," he said earnestly.

Parker looked at him warily as she stirred the potion. "Thanks, I think."

"I swear it's a compliment, just ask Maxipad next time you see him."

Parker rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Jamie, now you stir while I add the caterpillars." James made a face. "Oh, come on, it's the least you can do. I've got caterpillar guts all over me."

"Bet you wish you were a cripple now, huh?"

She smirked at him. "Watch it Potter, I might just drip some of this shrinking solution on you." She looked down at a certain part of James' anatomy for a second before blushing.

"I could say the same to you." He looked at her chest and, similarly, blushed.

"Don't be an arse, James," she growled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Language, Moneypenny!"

"Ugh!"

* * *

Throughout the week, James kept going on about how he was a cripple and 'couldn't partake in the delicate art of potion making,' yet he seemed to be doing fine in all his other classes, which were far more strenuous than cutting up ingredients for potions. He offered to demonstrate the seize and pull charm in the newly minted Professor Lupin's DADA class and, according to India McLaggen, was an enthusiastic participant during Care of Magical Creatures that week.

And then, _and then_ , he kept calling her Moneypenny!

'Moneypenny, can you hand me my books?' or 'Moneypenny, could you help me with my notes?'

Not that she actually helped him with his notes - the idiot was right handed and therefore perfectly able to write down his potions notes, but he was far too entertained by her reaction. He was being a complete and utter git and Kit still didn't know a jot about who this Moneypenny character was other than the fact that she was a sassy secretary.

Which was how Kit found herself hunting down one Maximilian O'Brien on what would be a beautiful Saturday morning to spend in Hogsmeade. Apparently, Max was in the library with Marlene trying to get a start on their Ancient Runes homework for next week. Kit knew that there was something going on between her two friends, but Marlene practically begged her not to say anything to Max, because 'he probably just likes me as a friend.'

As if.

The bloke was practically ready to walk down the aisle as a third year. And as much as Kit was a champion of true love (or as true as love can be between two third years), she needed answers, and Max was the one to give them to her.

"Who is this 'Moneypenny' character and why am I like her?" Kit asked Max without preamble once she spotted him and Marlene at a table by the windows.

"Alright, Kit?" Max smiled and turned to face Kit.

"What's a Moneypenny?" Marlene asked.

Kit frantically gestured to her friend. "Exactly! All I know is that she's a sassy secretary and James thinks I'm like her."

Max sighed and looked at the two Slytherins in front of him. "Alright, if I tell you, will you leave us alone?" Kit raised her eyebrow, which Max took as his queue to continue.

"Well, Moneypenny is a character in these James Bond films my dad and I like to watch, and James came over a couple times this summer and we watched some of them. Do you know what a film is?" The girls both nodded, albeit hesitantly. "So, this James Bond bloke is a spy, which is basically a muggle auror -"

"- Is Moneypenny one of these _spies_?" Marlene asked excitedly.

Kit sniffed. "Apparently she's just a sassy secretary."

Max tilted his head towards Marlene, ignoring Kit. "Sort of, she's a lieutenant of the Royal Navy, wicked smart, and always likes to banter with James, she fancies the pants off of him too-"

"- Wait a minute! Who said I fancy James?" Kit asked a little too quickly.

Their corner of the library grew silent at Kit's outburst. "I think he means Moneypenny…" Marlene said hesitantly, looking between her friends.

Another awkward silence fell upon the trio. "Anyway," Max stretched out, "while we were watching the films, James keep harping on and on about how you're like Moneypenny." Kit looked at him warily. "It's a compliment, I swear."

"Okay, but you better invite me over, so I can watch these _films_ , I don't have a _phellyvision_ you know."

"First of all, it's a _television_. Who needs Muggle Studies anyway?" he muttered.

Kit smiled, satisfied. "Now that that's taken care of, would you lot like to head down to Hogsmeade with me?"

Marlene blushed, and Max looked at his hands. "Well, uh," she started, "Max and I were going to go together…"

"Wonderful! Don't mind if I tag along then?" Marlene glared at Kit. "Oh," realization dawned on her, " _Oh_ , well you guys have fun then. The weather's supposed to be alright for once, and yeah, I'll just, uh, go find Corey and Viv."

Kit dashed out of the library, away from the awkwardness, though she was glad they were finally getting along with things. She quickly walked from the library to the entrance hall, where she assumed Corey and Vivian would be hanging out.

It was only their second Hogsmeade visit - the Halloween one at that - so the novelty hadn't quite worn off yet. It seemed as though the vast majority of students, or rather the vast majority of third years, didn't have dates and were just headed down to the village with friends. Though, Kit did see her cousin, Amelia, walking closely with one of her Ravenclaw housemates, Tiberius McLaggen. She scoffed. Poor Tiberius didn't know what he was getting himself into.

Across the hall, Kit also saw James chatting with his fellow Gryffs: Maisie Jordan, Jack Wood, Fred Weasley, Siobhan Finnigan, and lastly, her _favorite person ever,_ Teddy Crawley.

Steering clear of them, Kit finally spotted Corey and Vivian walking down the corridor with Charlie Avery and Josh Flint. She waved them over, but James misinterpreted it as a wave directed at him. He smiled and came over with his mates. Bugger, that was the last thing she needed.

"Alright, Moneypenny?" James asked, as he casually stood in front of Kit with his hands in the pockets of his navy trousers.

"Alright, James," she said with a slight edge in her voice. She didn't like being swarmed by all these Gryffs and she had a feeling that they felt the same way about her. Kit could practically feel their eyes burning into the Slytherin scarf that hung loosely around her neck.

"We were just about to head down to the village."

Kit forced a smile and looked at her brown Frye boots. "Same here, listen I've got to go," she started to walk away, "err, nice talking to you all," she added as an afterthought, not really giving a shit if she sounded rude.

"Nice getting away from you," she heard Teddy mutter once she turned around. Her face burned in humiliation when they all laughed, even though bloody coward couldn't even say it to her face. She didn't dare turn around to see what James was doing. Her friends regarded her with confused looks once she approached them.

"What was that all about?" Josh asked, nodding his head towards the Gryffs, who still hadn't left the entrance hall. Kit was met with four expectant looks.

"Oh, well James just wanted to say 'hi' and then you know those Gryffs," she faked a smile, "such jokesters."

"Right," Corey raised her eyebrows, "let's head out, yeah? I need new Quidditch gloves because someone," she glared at Charlie, "burned a hole in mine yesterday."

Charlie held his hands up in mock surrender. "OI, that wasn't my fault! I was just practicing for Charms."

"Right in front of my brand-new gloves?" Corey accused.

"I _swear_ , it was an accident," Charlie said, though his tone led Kit to believe the contrary.

Slowly, the Slytherin third years made their way out of the castle, making idle chatter all the way down to the village. "How about we all meet in the Three Broomsticks at noon?" Kit asked, looking at her watch once they were all in front of Honeydukes.

"Fine, but you lot better not be late!" Charlie sneered before walking into Zonko's with Josh.

Vivian rolled her eyes and began to walk towards Honeydukes. "Who invited him?"

"OI, I thought it would be a good idea!" Corey said. "I mean Tobey, Lucas, and Marley all have dates, so I thought we could all hang out." The bell above the door chimed as the girls walked into the sweet shop.

"Charlie's vile though…"

"Yeah, well, so are you," Corey muttered. Vivian hit her on the arm.

Kit absentmindedly paid attention to her friends's conversation while she looked at some Chocoballs. Yet, she noticed something through the glass container that sent a _funny_ feeling, that she would _never_ describe as jealousy, flowing through her veins: James and Maisie Jordan strolling down the Bertie Botts aisle together.

Alright, well - not exactly _together_ together, since their group of Gryffs wasn't far behind, but they were walking far too close to be considered strictly platonic. Kit bit her lip and quickly looked away.

The last thing she wanted was to be caught staring at some stupid arse Gryffs by said stupid arse Gryffs. Kit thought she was in the clear once she shifted her eyes back to the Chocoballs, but the next thing she knew Maisie and James strolled up to her.

"Long time no see, Parker," James smiled.

Kit's lips quirked up slightly in amusement. "Small town and all that."

"I'm shocked so much of your lot is out today, Parker. Didn't think you all escaped the dungeons that often," Maisie said.

Kit and James both frowned and a heavy silence fell over the trio.

"I didn't know you liked Chocoballs?" James asked, trying to make conversation.

Kit nodded stiffly, before surveying her eyes around the shop for Vivian and Corey, desperate for an escape. Those damn Gryffs just rubbed her the wrong way. She couldn't do anything right in their eyes. James looked at her expectantly and she remembered that he asked her a question.

"Yup, well - they're my favourite, but I really should be going. It was nice seeing you again." And just like that, she dashed out of Honeydukes without her beloved Chocoballs.

"Bloody idiot," she muttered to herself once she was on the street.

Merlin, she was so stupid. She acted like a child whenever she was around Gryffindors. Why did she even talk to James? His friends acted so rudely towards her and he didn't even stand up for her. She supposed that they'd never be friends, they were too different. She plopped herself down on a bench outside Honeydukes, while she waited for Corey and Vivian. It wasn't like she could go back into Honeydukes now, not after she made a complete fool of herself.

The bell chimed in the distance as she idly picked at a loose thread on her navy Barbour. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that it was a bloke who left the store in a hurry and was frantically looking down the street for someone.

"Parker!" Oh, Merlin no. She turned her head towards the voice. "You left without any Chocoballs."

Kit felt her face heat up. She knew he meant well, but she loathed the unwanted attention his kindness brought. She liked the James she sat with for four hours a week in potions - baring the annoying git he was that past week - not the one he was with his friends.

"Oh, yeah. I guess it was just a little too hot in there for me. Thanks, James." He handed her a bag that was practically filled to the brim with her favorite candy. "How much do I owe you?"

James smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Err, don't worry about it."

Circe, Merlin, and Agrippa, why did he have to be so kind to her in private, yet a complete arse to her in public? It simply made no sense, but if that was the way it was going to be, then that's how she'd behave as well.

"No, I insist. How much?"

"It's fine, don't worry about it -"

"- How much?" she pestered again.

James frowned. "For Circe's sake, Kit, I just wanted to do something nice for you after all the shit I made you do last week and how rude my friends were being earlier!" A couple of students walking down High Street turned around to stare at the commotion.

Great, now she felt like a bitch. She tucked a loose piece of hair that escaped from her French plait behind her ear. "I'm sorry. Thank you for the candy."

James dejectedly sat down next to her and rested his elbows on his knees and sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"You didn't yell at me -"

"- No, but I was just rude, okay? So, don't be sad or...whatever," he said with a shrug.

They sat in silence for a moment. "Want to get a cup of -" James started, when Maisie, Siobhan, Fred, Jack, and Teddy all came out of Honeydukes. Kit could have been mistaken, but she could have sworn she heard James hold back a groan.

"There you are, James. We've been looking all over for you," Siobhan said with a smile.

"I just had to get some air -"

"Next to the snake? That's hardly fresh air," Teddy sneered at Kit.

She really hated Teddy Crawley. Like _push him off the Astronomy Tower_ hated Teddy Crawley. He was always picking on her for being a pureblood, especially in History of Magic where he sat behind her. He constantly kicked her chair and always made a point to hiss at her when Professor Binns mentioned anything related to magical blood type. But worst of all, he picked on her brother, Miles, during Dueling Club and sent him to the hospital wing last week.

"I was just leaving anyways." Kit started to get up.

"Good, best be off now, Parker," Fred said. She froze and looked at James, almost pleadingly.

He met her eyes briefly. "I'll see you later, don't forget your Chocoballs."

"What, these?" Teddy snatched the bag from James's grasp. James frowned and opened his mouth, presumably to protest, but didn't say anything before Teddy interrupted him. "Hey, Siobhan, fancy a Chocoball?" Teddy asked his friend.

Siobhan giggled. "Oh, I'd love one. Freddy, Maisie, you want one?"

Both Gryffindors dug into the bag. "James?" Maisie asked.

Kit hated the whole lot, and not just because they stole the Chocoballs that James had given her (she wasn't five). She hated them because while the entire Wizarding World thought they were so pious and just, they were nothing more than a bunch of self-righteous pricks. And they prided themselves on chivalry. It was a brutal double standard.

They were only revered because the vast majority of them were half-bloods, and other portion consisted of Muggleborns: the poster children for Wizarding War equality. Bunch of codswallop if you asked her. James was a cowardly lion who couldn't even stand up for a friend. But apparently, he didn't think of them as friends, so he had no incentive.

"Just let her go," James said softly, surprising Kit. She tried to remain impassive under the group's gaze.

Teddy let out a chuckle and rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on -"

"Teddy - just let her go," James said emphatically.

Teddy scoffed and begrudgingly handed Kit the now half empty bag of Chocoballs. She didn't stick around any longer and dashed off towards Spintwitches. Hopefully, Corey and Vivian would come in sometime soon. She could only feign interest in brooms and gloves for so long without the shopkeeper asking her why she looked like she was about to cry.

* * *

Weeks passed, and school was finally ready to let out for Christmas and Kit couldn't wait to get home. She missed her parents something awful this year.

Marlene and Max had gotten much closer over the past four months and Kit constantly felt like she was the third wheel. The same went for Corey and Vivian, who seemed to always be together, if not always fighting. She saw Miles a lot more this year than she did last year when he was still getting acclimated to Hogwarts, but he had his own friends and Kit didn't want to bother him all the time; it was enough that they had dinner together three times a week.

And then there was James, who kept confusing Kit with his dual personalities that switched every time one of his friends was around.

Call her a child, she was thirteen after all, but she just wanted to talk to her mother about the whole damn thing. Which was how she came to be in the library writing a letter to her mother, who she would see in less than two days. After the initial sorting disappointment first-year, Kit's parents insisted that she always be very open with them and as a result, they conversed nearly every day by owl post.

 _Mum,_

 _I can't wait to come home for Christmas. I miss you and dad so much this year. I know I haven't really mentioned it in our letters, but school has just been a bit difficult this year and I need a break. I just feel a bit...lost._

 _Like I said the other day, Marlene just got a boyfriend (you remember my friend Max?) and then Corey and Vivian have gotten closer and I just feel on the outs. Classes are going alright, and we actually started studying boggarts in Defense on Monday and then we finally saw them yesterday. It was a bit scary, but I'll tell you more when I get home. Professor Dippet also said that Vivian and I could sit second and third chair for Debate Club after the holiday._

 _And I know you and papa said that it will be hard to be a Slytherin, but I guess I just didn't really notice it all first and second year. People are just...mean with their comments sometimes and I just really want something good -_

"Ahem." Kit looked up from her letter to see an expectant Maisie Jordan.

Kit nonchalantly snuck her letter under her Defense textbook, which was lying nearby. It was bad enough that the girl had a personal vendetta against her, lest she be privy to Kit's personal letters.

"What do you want, Jordan?" Kit said tiredly.

Maisie clearly took that as an invitation to sit down. "Oh, not much. Just thought I'd share something with my favorite Slytherin, that's all."

Kit leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive manner. "I'm your favorite Slytherin?" she asked, her tone showing her skepticism.

"Do you want to know the news or not?"

It didn't really matter to Kit whether or not she heard Maisie Jordan's latest piece of gossip (if it was anything really worth hearing, Kit definitely would have known by then), but she figured it was the quickest way to get rid of the girl. "Alright, what is it?"

Maisie smirked. "Only that I know someone who fancies you."

Kit rolled her eyes. "Thanks for telling me Jordan, but I really must be off." She quickly tossed her unfinished letter and her textbooks into her leather satchel and began to leave the library.

Maisie glanced at Kit from over her shoulder. "Don't you want to know who it is?"

Merlin, did she ever, it wasn't every day that she heard a bloke fancied her, she wasn't Marlene or Corey afterall, but she'd never let Maisie Jordan know that. She rolled her eyes again. "I don't know Jordan, isn't this whole thing a little first year?"

Maisie turned around in her chair to fully face a standing Kit. "Maybe, but trust me, Parker, you'll be glad I told you."

Kit sighed heavily, shifted her bag to her other shoulder, and walked back towards Maisie. "Alright, who is it?" She sat down.

"Well," Maisie paused and looked around the library conspiratorially, "he's a Gryffindor and in our year -"

"- Please tell me it isn't Crawley, Merlin, I'll vomit." It was only half a joke.

"Oh stop, and no. You know him and talk to him just about every day..."

Kit blushed. She couldn't mean - "James?"

Maisie just nodded.

"But," Kit scrunched her nose in confusion, "I don't understand…"

Maisie stood up and patted Kit on the head in a condescending manner. "There, there Parker. He'll just have to get over it."

Kit absentmindedly nodded her head. "Right, right - wait a minute! Why would he need to get over it?"

"It's not like anything could come out of it," Maisie began to walk away, "I mean, a Gryffindor and Slytherin? And in this time? Not bloody likely."

Kit took a deep breath and slouched in her seat after she was sure Jordan had left. Why did she have to tell her that in the first place? She could have just gone on without saying anything and just hoped that everything fizzled out naturally. Wait - did Kit even want things to fizzle out? Or rather, was there anything to actually fizzle out? Merlin, her head hurt. She'd never had a bloke fancy her before. Her condescending manner normally prevented this from happening. And then there was the whole Rory thing (more on that later). Kit suddenly sat up straight.

Unless Jordan was lying. Yes, that had to be it, Maisie Jordan was lying.

James Potter could not and would not fancy her. There was just no way that he, being a Gryffindor and all, would fancy a Slytherin. Circe, what would his friends think? She couldn't go through that hell of being with James' friends every day, even if he did fancy her since he did absolutely nothing to stop them from tormenting her. She had absolutely no idea how Marlene managed it, but she supposed that Max was less likely to take someone's shit than James was.

No, Kit would make sure that there was no way that James could fancy her. It was for his own preservation, really. But as she got up to leave the library, she wondered why her chest ached so much from merely the thought of it?

 **A/N: Aw, poor Kit. Next chapter is one of my favourites, thanks for following/reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4

" **Magic Moments"**

 **Or**

" **The Prefect Plot"**

 **A/N: s/o to JKR for creating/owning HP, I only own my characters. And of course, s/o to the incomparable Perry Como for a true bop.**

Kit had to concede that fourth year was pretty much a downer. She couldn't be a prefect or quidditch captain (not that she really wanted to be the latter, but still), Hogsmeade visits were now borderline boring, and the general populous still thought she was too young to experience quidditch parties past midnight.

The only plus side - if anyone could even call it a that - of being a fourth year was finally being able to attend Professor Slughorn's infamous Slug Club parties.

Now the parties themselves were rather terrible, but the saving grace was the food and the exclusivity, the latter of which particularly appealed to Kit (not that she would ever turn down a good meal).

But first, she needed an invite. Professor Slughorn was already quite fond of her, to say nothing of house loyalty or Kit's grade in potions.

So, Kit figured that even if she couldn't get an invitation for herself, she could always hoodwink one of her friends into taking her, since she couldn't miss out on this potential networking goldmine - even if the whole thing was a little pretentious.

Kit's underlings, Louise Bletchley, Millie Bulstrode, and Poppie McLaggen (one of the five McLaggen siblings currently at Hogwarts) had reportedly heard whisperings about a Slug Club party for the past three days. However, the fates had yet to grant Kit an invite. Rejection was starting to set in and she practically jumped whenever one of her friends got mail.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Corey threw down her fork in frustration after Kit practically pounced on Vivian's owl, Sylvia Plath, once it landed on the table during breakfast one morning.

Kit glared at Corey. "I'm just waiting for a letter is all…"

Marlene scoffed. "Not that Slug Club shit again? Merlin, I am so sick of it! First Max and James, now you?"

"Sorry for taking an interest in my future," Kit drawled sarcastically.

Vivian kept reading her letter from her grandmother, not lifting her eyes up to address her friend. "By wanting to go to a Slug Club Party?"

"Yes, by wanting to go to a Slug Club Party," Kit mimicked, "it's a wonderful networking opportunity."

Corey and Vivian laughed, while Marlene muttered, "You're just like James."

Kit tried not to blush. "Has he heard anything?" The girls looked up at her with smirks, "Or - uh - Max? Have they heard anything?" she quickly amended.

Marlene smiled. "I don't think they've heard anything, but why don't you go and ask?" She turned around to wave at the Gryffindor fourth years.

"Would you put your hand down," Kit exclaimed, slapping Marlene's hand, "someone will see you."

Vivian cleared her throat. "Uh, isn't that kind of the point?"

Kit blushed. "Well, I uh -"

"Oh, don't get your wand in a knot, just go over and ask them." Marlene rolled her eyes.

The clock chimes could be heard faintly in the background, signaling that class was starting in fifteen minutes. Kit let out a sigh of relief before practically jumping off the bench, leaving her friends behind to get to potions on their own.

"Oh Merlin, would you look at the time, gotta run, bye."

They all laughed when Kit rammed into Conrad Macmillan on her way out of the Great Hall.

* * *

James walked frantically down the corridors trying to get to potions on time, or rather, trying to get to potions early. He wanted to make a good impression on Professor Slughorn in order to get an invite to his Slug Club Party - and yes, he knew how pathetic he sounded.

Since James wanted to be a healer, it was imperative that he be in Professor Slughorn's good graces in order to get a fabulous letter of recommendation. And if that meant going to his pretentious parties a couple of times a year, then that was just something James would have to put up with.

He looked at his watch and realized that he would be twelve minutes early; just enough time that it would look like he made an effort, but not too much time that he would look like a prat. He mentally patted himself on the back for his flawlesstime management.

But once James passed through the doorway, it seemed as though he wasn't the only one that had this stellar plan: Parker was seated at their workstation, ever attentive, even though Professor Slughorn wasn't even in the room.

"What're you doing here, Moneypenny?" he sighed.

She looked up at him and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I just thought I'd get to class a little early is all," she said in what James would have believed was an innocent tone had he not known her for four years. He shot her a dubious look. "Fine, I wanted to get here early so Slughorn would see what a dedicated student I am and invite me to his party," she said bluntly," I assume the same goes for you."

He walked over to her and threw his bag on the floor before sitting on his stool. "Guilty. I figure I've got to be in his good graces if I want to be a healer."

She sighed. "Same. Professor Slughorn, despite all his faults, is a very respected member of the wizarding community."

James scoffed. "We're such brown nosers."

"Couldn't agree more."

The room was quiet for a moment, as neither student quite knew what to say, until suddenly James slapped his hands on the table, causing Parker to jump. "Why don't we work together to try and get an invite?" he said enthusiastically.

Parker placed a hand on her heart and looked at him warily. "Why don't you try _not_ to give me a heart attack and then we'll talk."

James blushed. "Sorry-"

"- It's alright," she placated him, "I do think it's a good plan, though. I mean we both want invites and we're already at least in the top five of the class - I mean I'm probably at _the_ top with you running a distant second maybe third, so it shouldn't be too hard." James glared at the brunette, which she chose to ignore. "Just don't get yourself injured again, I don't want you fucking this up for me."

James frowned. "You don't want _me_ fucking this up for _you_?"

Parker scoffed.

He shook his head in confusion. "Why do you want to go to this party so badly? I mean, you don't want to be a healer..."

"I like parties." James shot her a dubious look. "Alright, I want to go for the same reason you do. I mean, Professor Slughorn _is_ a well-respected member of the wizarding community and through this party, I'll be able to get people to see that I'm not the stereotypical Slytherin that everyone thinks I am and then they'll see how driven I am about wanting to be an auror -"

"- You want to be an auror?" he interrupted her.

Katherine Parker wanted to be an auror? Admittedly, James didn't really _see_ it: she was too bloody posh for her own good and he couldn't really picture her blending into her surroundings too well. But she was smart and manipulative in a...good way, he supposed.

Kit slapped her hand over her mouth. "I didn't say that."

James smirked. "I'm pretty sure you did."

She shook her head and turned away from James. "No, you must have misheard me."

"Why don't you want me to know?" he said, trying to get back into her line of sight, "I think it's cool that you want to be an auror. I wouldn't hide that, it does exactly what you want people to think of you as, you know, not the stereotypical Slytherin," he reasoned.

Kit sighed. "You're the only person other than the girls, Professor Slughorn, and my parents that I've told," she said softly, finally turning back to James.

He smiled and tried not to blush at her words. "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to - hey, maybe you'll even work for my dad someday."

This time it was Kit's turn to blush. "Thanks, James," she said earnestly.

The pair was spared from anymore conversation on the matter once Professor Slughorn walked into the room.

"Merlin's Beard, Miss Parker, Mr. Potter! You scared me," the old man exclaimed as he dropped a stack of essays onto the dungeon floor. James and Kit quickly scampered over to help pick up the fallen essays.

"Sorry Professor, but James and I wanted to make sure that we had enough flying seahorses for the Girding potion we're brewing today," Kit fibbed, as she scooped up a stack of essays.

James nodded vigorously as he did the same. He always admired that she was so quick on her feet.

"Ah," Slughorn said once James and Kit placed the essays back on his desk, "that's very proactive of you both, but then again I would expect nothing less from my two best students."

James winked at Parker over Slughorn's head, while she rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you both about something," Slughorn gestured the pair to sit at the desk at the front of the room, to which they both hesitantly complied. "You see, I have the occasional get together throughout the year and it just so happens that I'm having one next Friday."

"Valentine's Day, sir?"

"Yes, I love to have them themed, it creates quite the jolly atmosphere." Slughorn smiled fondly and waved his hand. "No matter, I'm having a party and I was wondering if the two of you would be interested in coming? It's just some of my past and present students, I think you would both enjoy it."

James felt Kit's hand under the table and subtly high fived it. They both looked at each other before nodding. "We'd be honored, Professor," James said for both of them.

Slughorn smiled and clasped his hands together with glee. "Excellent, I expect you two to come together, no less."

James went rigid and he felt Kit do the same. "Oh - uh - we're not -"

"We're not together," James interrupted, gesturing between himself and Kit.

Slughorn smiled and winked at James. "Oh, my mistake then, I would still like to see both of you there, though."

"Of course, sir," Kit affirmed, blushing slightly, "we wouldn't miss it."

Slughorn nodded and dismissed Kit and James back to their seats once he saw other students beginning to enter the room.

The tension was palpable between the pair as they sat back at their workstation. James kept looking at Kit out of the corner of his eye but quickly looked away each time their eyes met. He couldn't believe Slughorn thought they were a couple! It was laughable, really.

Alright, yes - James did fancy Kit last year, but that was just a passing thing that he chalked up to his fourteen-year-old hormones. He saw her practically every day, there was bound to be some sort of attraction. She had that nice light brown hair and those gorgeous chocolate brown eyes - Merlin! He had to get a grip.

He could not fancy Katherine Parker again and he most certainly could _not_ go to this party with her on Valentine's Day, of all bloody days! He tried to sneak another peek at her, but she caught his gaze. 'Damn those chocolate brown eyes,' he thought as he turned away quickly.

* * *

Kit tried to broach the subject of Slughorn's party with James numerous times throughout the week, but he never seemed to take the bait. He also seemed to be avoiding her outside of class. She would admit that it wasn't like they hung out outside of class all the time, but sometimes they would work together on their potion's homework in the library.

Kit found it peculiar - James' sudden dismissal of her - especially considering how he wanted them to work together to snag party invites. He was being quite shifty - never looking her in the eye, muttering completely fabricated excuses for everything, and dashing off right after class.

It made her feel - well - shitty to be completely honest. Kit had thought they were on the mend after last year's rather unfortunate incidents (yes - incidents plural) regarding a certain prat named Teddy Crawley.

She vowed not to be such a coward about the whole matter and just ask him. If he had fears of it being a date, she could always assuage them by saying that she really just wanted to go with someone she already knew.

And there was also the fact that Slughorn kind of assumed that they would be going together. Not that she would _ever_ manipulate James into going with her by throwing Slughorn's words back at him. _Oh, Merlin no_. She smirked at the mere thought.

And she also did _not_ purposely leave the top _two_ buttons of her school oxford open when she went to the library the Tuesday evening before the party to "study." A girl had to use all her assets these days.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Vivian asked in a bored tone as Kit peered around the rather large bookshelf to her right for any sign of James.

In hindsight, Kit supposed that Vivian really wasn't the best person to bring along. She'd already suffered through two lectures about how Kit didn't need a man for validation and she could feel another one coming.

Kit focused her attention back to her friend. "Listen Boot, I love you and all, but you're distracting me from my mission."

"Morgana, you're going to be absolutely terrifying once you're an auror if you go to this much trouble for a bloke," Vivian said dramatically. "Wouldn't these skills of yours be better put to use for - oh I don't know - studying?"

She rolled her eyes. "But I don't like to study."

Vivian held her hands up in surrender. "And I don't either, I'm just saying -"

Kit practically leapt out of her chair and clamped a hand over Vivian's mouth. "He's here," she whispered and gestured to a table diagonally from the Slytherins where James was currently setting down his stuff. He was dressed in grey sweatpants and an old Puddlemere crewneck sweatshirt, no doubt having just returned from practice.

"Act natural Viv, act natural."

"Isn't that what we're doing? OWW," Vivian yelped from her new spot on the floor after Kit _lightly_ pushed her. Half the library turned to look over at the dark-haired witch, including a certain fourth year Gryffindor. "What the fuck is wrong with you," Vivian hissed.

Completely ignoring her harsh words, Kit got out of her chair to help Vivian. "Oh, my Circe, Viv, are you okay?" she inquired, her voice laced with faux concern.

"You're a fucking awful actress," Vivian seethed to Kit as she saw a pair of male trainers come into view.

"Alright, Boot?" a male voice asked; however, it did not belong to James.

Vivian looked up from her place on the floor to find herself looking into the most wonderful pair of blue eyes and froze upon realizing who they belonged to. Kit couldn't help but chuckle at Vivian's reaction to Logan Chambers giving her a hand.

"I'm fine, Chambers," Vivian seethed, getting up from her spot on the floor without Logan's help.

Kit couldn't help but notice that the blond Hufflepuff appeared rather hurt by Vivian's harsh words. "I was just coming over to see if you needed help -" he started to protest to Vivian's reply in a rather adorable manner, causing Kit to inwardly sigh. But of course, Vivian had to ruin the moment with _yet another_ feminist diatribe.

"I don't need your help _Chambers_ , or anyone else's for that matter. I can take care of myself perfectly well, thank you very much. You know, you males..." she continued to prattle on, but Kit lost interest.

"What's going on here?" another male voice asked, though this time it belonged to James. "Boot, why were you on the ground?" he added, his voice full of confusion.

Vivian glared at Kit, who not so subtly looked away from her to look at James. "It seems that in my _fervor_ for knowledge, I simply became too excited and fell out of my chair."

James looked at her warily. "Okay," he stretched out, "I'm gonna go now. Parker, Chambers," he acknowledged the other two fourth years and turned around.

"Wait, James," Kit started as she followed James back to his table. He turned around on his heel and raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you still going to Slughorn's party Friday?" He rolled his eyes and nodded. "Oh, well I hadn't really heard you mention it in class again. Do you want to go together - I mean meet up beforehand and walk there together -"

"Aren't you going with Avery?" he interrupted her. Kit frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. He wasn't making any sense. "Teddy told me you were going with Avery."

"I'm not going with Charlie," she said carefully, "and why would you trust anything Crawley says about me, you know he hates me." She noticed that James tense up at her words.

"I don't know, he said he heard you talking about it in History of Magic."

The tension between the two potions partners was palpable as neither knew quite what to say next. Though, it was Kit who finally broke the silence.

"So, do you want to meet up?"

The anger that was previously present on James' face vanished and was replaced with a look of embarrassment. "Err, I can't -"

This time it was Kit's turn to become terse. "I thought you said you were going? We worked together to get invites, we were supposed to go together."

James suddenly became interested in a smear of mud on his trainers. "I asked someone."

Oh, fuck no. That two faced, no good bastard - "You asked someone?"

James refused to meet her gaze. "Yeah…"

"Well?" Kit asked sarcastically, "Who's the lucky bird?"

He seemed to take her sarcasm for genuine excitement for suddenly his eyes meet hers. "Caroline Carter."

Kit pursed her lips. "The Hufflepuff?"

James rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, Kit, the Hufflepuff."

"Just checking…" Kit paused as she thought of what to say next. "I didn't know you fancied her?" she questioned, going the blunt route.

"She's fit and funny."

Kit tried not to look too upset. Caroline Carter was a petite, blonde fourth year Hufflepuff, who was terribly athletic. She was friends with all the blokes on the Hufflepuff quidditch team and was one of the founding members of Hogwarts's first track/cross country team. Kit couldn't even bloody run. However, she had heard from India McLaggen that Caroline was apparently pretty funny in their Divination class, so maybe that was how James knew her. Caroline seemed exactly like James's type.

"Quite the winner you picked there. You also forgot dim and desperate."

"Why is she desperate?" James rolled his eyes.

Kit smirked, glad that he fell right for her bait. "Because she's going with you."

James took a step towards her, a wicked smile playing on his face.

"It's funny you say that _love_ ," he whispered due to their close proximity, "because it seems like you wanted us to go together. Wouldn't that make you the 'desperate' one?" Kit glared at him and blushed due to her lack of personal space. James continued. "I think you're jealous."

She rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the bookshelf as she bit her lip and chuckled, her chest shaking slightly. "Hardly. James, you were the one who snapped Caroline Carter up the moment you heard I had a date." She smirked. "I guess you're the desperate one now, hmm?"

She lightly pushed on his chest to pass him and go back to her spot with Vivian with one thought in mind: she needed a killer date for this shindig. One that would piss off James to no end. And that only left one person.

"So, how'd it go?" Vivian asked.

"It didn't and I'm sorry I pushed you," she said quietly.

"S'alright, mug."

Kit sighed but quickly set about cleaning up her things. "Thanks, but now we need to find someone."

Vivian followed suit in picking up her things. "Who?"

"Charlie Avery."

* * *

Charlie Avery was a very peculiar individual. Being the son of a convicted Death Eater, he led a relatively solitary life up until the age of eleven when he went to Hogwarts, except for when he had Little League Quidditch games and practices.

His mother was largely absent from his childhood, instead spending her time at spas around Europe to deal with the stress of having a convicted felon for a husband, resulting in Charlie's governess and various house elves practically raising him until he was old enough to enter Hogwarts.

However, his lack of human interaction did little to deter how he perceived the world. The boy knew that he wasn't going to be liked anyways due to his lineage, so he merely adopted a persona of indifference, which some viewed as insolent and hateful.

It didn't help that he was also snarky as hell and a rather spectacular quidditch player, though he refused to play on the house team for reasons undisclosed to anyone, even Tobey Zabini, his best friend.

So naturally, he was the perfect person to piss off James. For you see, James Potter is to Charlie Avery as Katherine Parker is to Teddy Crawley: Mortal Enemy No. 1.

The boys hated each other since their second day of classes in first year. Teddy (it was always Teddy wasn't it?) and James were talking before their first flying lesson and James was explaining the unique appeal of flying on a broom to Teddy, who was a Muggleborn.

James was boasting about how he was one of the best players on his Little League Quidditch Team, the Whomping Willows of Wiltshire, when Charlie overheard and merely added that if he remembered correctly, his team, the Hampshire Hares, beat James' team in the finals and Charlie specifically remembered James crying.

Needless to say, James punched Charlie and Charlie punched James and the two hadn't gotten along since.

Yet, another thing to add to the list of peculiarities surrounding Charlie Avery was that he had his own secret hideout in the Slytherin Dungeons (lair was too strong of a word), where he sold smuggled muggle products with Peter Norrington, a Hufflepuff in their year. The two called it _The Bookstore_ and the partners managed to net roughly four hundred galleons worth of contraband a year to the school without the professors' knowledge. (How two fourth years managed to acquire that much contraband was a mystery to Kit, though she believed that the Norringtons had ties to the Gallagher Crime Family.)

They sold everything from pens and pencils to drugs (Peter grew pot in Greenhouse Three), concentration potions, and of course muggle alcohol. They also handled the books for betting on the quidditch matches, hence the name, _The Bookstore_. To put it simply, they ran Hogwarts's underground crime ring, making Charlie a very good friend to have.

"Katherine, what can I do for you?" the fourth-year boy's voice rang out in the magically enlarged broom cupboard.

Kit nearly frowned at the use of her full name but placed a smile on her face. "Charles, I'm in need of your services," she replied in turn, knowing the use of _his_ full name would anger him as well.

"Don't call me Charles. And I don't really peg you as the type to need my services -you're too," he paused and gestured with his hands, trying to formulate the right word, "vanilla," he settled on.

She scoffed. "Rude, I buy pens and champagne." He glared at her. "Fine, my request has more to do with you than your business."

Charlie got up from his, admittedly, massive oak desk, only to perch himself on its corner and cross his arms over his chest. His green eyes twinkled with mirth as he answered her. "Me? Well, _golly_ Kitty, I'm flattered."

"Yes, well, you're my last resort, so I wouldn't be."

"Hurtful," he muttered, though his mirth showed through.

Kit glared at her housemate. "Are you quite finished?" Charlie nodded. "Good, well I'm in need of an escort to Slughorn's party -"

Charlie openly laughed. "I'm sorry, Parker, but there is no way that I would go to a Slug Club party, never mind one with you, especially if you use the word _escort_ again -"

Slightly anticipating this reaction, Kit smirked. "Well, what if I told you that it had to do with Potter?"

She knew she had him once his eyebrows rose and a smirk began to spread across his face.

"What's he done now?"

* * *

Headmistress McGonagall did not have a secretary and therefore the process of securing an appointment with the older witch was exceedingly difficult and lengthy. Since it was now official that Kit was in Slughorn's good graces after securing the party invite, she could begin phase two of her plan: _Get Kit into the Auror Academy_ \- become prefect.

And yes - Hogwarts students did not become prefects until they were fifth years, yada yada yada. But what the _average_ student fails to take into consideration is that the prefect selection process begins in fourth year.

As it was now February, and the year was already halfway over, Kit had to carry out this next step of her plan rather quickly since, in her eyes, she was already behind. Her only real competition for prefect were Nora Pucey and Vivian, the latter of whom already told Kit numerous times that she, under no circumstances, wanted to be a prefect and would do anything in her power to sabotage herself for the position. Nora on the other hand…

Despite being a pureblood supremacist, Nora Pucey was a very bright witch. She also wrote for that rag, _The Hogwarts Howler_ , to show that she was well rounded, and Kit knew for a fact that she helped "run" some bogus charity with her mother, as well (it was a complete farce that dealt with helping provide thestrals with glasses and had nothing on Morag's charity for inbred house elves or the Founder's Charity that Kit helped out with on the occasion).

Pucey didn't have the discipline to be something as instrumental to the Hogwarts cog as a prefect. She wanted to be a journalist for Circe's sake!

Anyway, none of these admittedly diabolical thoughts really culminated until an afternoon the week before the party when all the fourth year Slytherin girls were lounging in their room. Seeing as it was a Friday afternoon, the girls were chatting about their weekend plans.

Corey expressed interest in going to a party held by some older Slytherins and Nora and Gemma Warrington were keen to go as well. Kit was invited by Rory Bletchley (don't worry, he's coming), but wasn't really feeling up to partying, having sworn off alcohol after a terrible night the weekend prior (it was her first time and for the record, gin is not a good first-time drink).

"Marlene, Viv, what about you?" Gemma said.

Kit always thought Gemma was the nicer of the Rogue Slytherins, but she was still crafty in her own way. Though now that Kit thought about it, Gemma had been a bit down since the party last week and after the _massive_ Ministry firings in December. Kit hoped Gemma's father hadn't been fired or anything.

A lot of Kit's father's department, International Magical Cooperation, had been let go and if memory served her right, Gemma's father worked there, as well. Kit would have to ask her mother about the Warringtons and Rory about that party.

Marlene laughed good-naturedly. "Max is supposed to teach me Wizard's Chess! He got a set over Christmas and claims he can get me to master the game -"

" - But you already know how to play Wizard's Chess. You beat me the other day - you know if Max really liked you, you wouldn't have to dumb down for him," Vivian interrupted causing Kit to look up from her History of Magic chapter on Magical Artists and stifled a laugh.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "I'm not dumbing down for him. It just makes him feel like he belongs when he knows wizarding things that I don't. Being a muggleborn is hard on him sometimes…"

The room became curiously quiet. Kit cleared her throat. "Well, have fun. Viv and I will be here if you get bored." Marlene smiled kindly and the girls all went back to their own business.

"I just can't wait until next year when I'm prefect and I don't have to worry about getting caught," Nora sniggered as she tried on an (admittedly) adorable green and black plaid skirt.

Gemma chuckled nervously. "Just as long as you get the position."

Nora looked Kit dead in the eye, a wicked smirk gracing her pointed face. "Oh, I will."

That did it.

Once the girls were off to their various social gatherings and it was just Kit and Vivian in the room, Kit decided to reveal her plot. Knowing Vivian was always down for diabolical deceptions, especially when they concerned manipulating the higher institution that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the two quickly set to work.

Flash forward to the Thursday before the party, Kit had secured an appointment with McGonagall with Professor Binns, as well as on a recommendation from Professor Slughorn, which brought her back to her original question, why didn't the Headmistress of Hogwarts have a secretary?

"Treacle Tart," Kit muttered the ridiculous password and the sketchy gargoyle quickly transformed into a staircase.

After she got to the landing, Kit quickly smoothed out her skirt and double checked her portfolio to see if it had all the paperwork she and Vivian had collected in the past few days. Satisfied, Kit took a deep breath and opened the ornate door.

"Hello, Miss Parker," Headmistress McGonagall rose from her desk to greet the young witch before her.

Kit confidently walked to the front of the room and quickly admired all the portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses. "Good afternoon, Professor."

McGonagall gestured for Kit to sit down. "I'm surprised it's taken us this long to meet face to face. Professors Slughorn and Lupin speak very highly of you."

Kit offered a genuine smile, shocked at the phrase from Professor Lupin. She always thought she had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with the year Defense professor: the man loved to put her on the spot and always had a sarcastic comment ready for her.

"They teach some of my favorite classes. Though I would like to talk about History of Magic, not Defense or Potions."

"Straight to the point, I see," Minnie quipped. Kit smiled bashfully, and the Headmistress continued. "Professor Binns tells me you wish to add something to the History of Magic curriculum?"

"Yes," Kit straightened up in her seat and tucked a piece of brown hair behind her ear, "I was reading my textbook the other day and came across a small section dedicated to Magical Artists and Magical Art History. When I walk around the castle, I'm always struck by how many paintings, both magical and muggle, Hogwarts does in fact have. I think it would be just fascinating to explore the origins behind these paintings and their painters in depth with a larger portion of the class dedicated to art history, other than just the meager paragraph we read last week."

Minnie looked at Kit curiously. "And how would this idea be implemented? If you say that there's only one "meager" paragraph in the textbook, then how would Professor Binns teach this additional information?"

"If I may," Kit cleared her throat and produced her portfolio for the Headmistress to see, "I took the liberty of gathering some materials in the library on Magical Art History and found several small, though sufficient, supplements for the current text." Minnie rose her eyebrows, impressed and Kit had to hide a smirk. "If this works, then we can even add supplements for other subjects as the years go on."

Time seemed to stop as McGonagall flipped through Kit's research. "I must say, I am very impressed, Miss Parker. It seems as though you made quite the effort here. I'll have to go over this with the board, but if everything pans out, I'd wager that this supplement of yours could be implemented next fall."

Another genuine smile stretched across Kit's face. She didn't do the _entire_ thing in order to become prefect - she was honestly interested in art history of both the muggle and magical world. _Ashbury_ had quite the collection on its own, though it could never rival the one at Hogwarts.

"Oh, excellent, I can't wait! History of Magic is one of the classes I'm hoping to get an OWL in."

"Do you wish to go into the history field?"

And there it was.

Kit cleared her throat, trying to be bashful. "Actually, I was rather hoping to get into the Auror Academy one day. I've wanted to be an auror ever since my father took me on a tour of the Ministry when I was nine. Though, I do believe that we can best prepare for the future by studying the past."

McGonagall peered at Kit over the rim of her glasses, only a little suspicious. "A wise statement. Well, Miss Parker, I feel as though I have just gained a great insight into your character," she smiled and rose from her chair, leaving Kit no choice but to do the same, "I hope you have a pleasant weekend and we will be in touch. Say hello to your parents for me."

"I will and you as well, Professor," Kit clasped her hands together at her stomach, "I look forward to hearing from you." Smiling triumphantly once her back was turned, Kit strutted down the stairs.

"So? How'd it go?" Marlene's voice bombarded Kit the second her feet hit the landing.

Kit played nonchalant. "Oh, you know…"

"Cut the shit, Parker," Corey sniped.

"Well, Minnie agreed to explore the opportunities that adding Magical Art History to the History of Magic curriculum would afford."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "And…"

Kit smiled. "And poor Nora Pucey better have a good summer because come fall, that prefect position is mine."

The girls's cheerful laughter filled the corridor and they happily walked back to the Slytherin Common Room, anxious for the weekend to start. Little did they know, someone had been watching the entire exchange…

* * *

"And then he surprised me with a bouquet of peonies! I have no idea how he managed to get them! They're not even in season!" Marlene's sweet voice echoed through the fourth year Slytherin girls's dorm as she arranged said peonies in a vase she had one of the house elves get for her.

"Probably," Corey fake gasped, " _magic_?"

Valentine's Day was a sickeningly sweet holiday. Marlene and Vivian loved it, while Corey positively hated it. However, Kit was somewhere in the middle. She loved the candy and making Valentines for all her friends, but she positively hated seeing hormonal seventh years snogging in the corridors (PDA creeped her out - she couldn't recall an instance in recent memory where her parents did more than kiss each other on New Year's Eve) and the flying cupids around the school scared the hell out of her.

Marlene frowned at Corey and silently went back to arranging her beloved flowers, which she placed on her nightstand.

"Oh, Marley. Don't let Corey ruin your first real Valentine's Day for you." Kit skipped over towards Corey and made a face at the dark-haired girl. "She's just jealous."

"Har, har," Corey said, "where's Vivian? She's the only one of you that I can tolerate."

Vivian was currently in the library hiding from a love-struck Fitzwilliam McLaggen.

Marlene tutted at Corey. "That's saying something -"

"OI, let's stop making fun of Corey."

Kit smiled. "Oh, come on, I'm boring and Marlene is too nice to make fun of, you're all we've got."

Being in love was wonderful, but Kit just didn't see why there had to be one day to celebrate it when you should celebrate it every day. Her parents were firm believers of doing small things for each other and their children, so it wasn't overkill on Valentine's Day, Christmas, or birthdays. By spreading things out, ordinary days were made extraordinary. Her mother, more so than her father, often sent her random cards or little gifts to brighten her day, so much so that holidays were not a big deal in the Parker Family.

For example, her mother sent her a lovely dress to wear to tonight's party a few days ago, after she "saw it at Liberty's and knew I just _had_ to get it for you, Plumpy." (The Parkers only ventured into Muggle London to go clothes shopping, to the theatre, or for a bite to eat on the occasion. Tilly did all their shopping for food and household supplies.)

The dress was sleeveless, soft pink, and ended a bit above her knees. The pink on the top was a simple knit blend, but the bottom, which began just above her belly button, consisted of rows of faux pink feathers. It also had an open back, which was tied together at the nape of her neck with a simple soft pink, silk-chiffon ribbon.

"You all set?" Corey looked over at Kit, who was finishing putting on her three-inch, nude d'orsay heels.

She straightened up and nodded. "You sure you don't want to come?"

Corey had been invited to Slughorn's party as well, but she had other plans. "I'm not missing out on Graeme Goshawk for some pretentious party - no offense Parker."

"None taken."

Marlene sighed dreamily and laid back down on her bed. "Graeme Goshawk, Merlin he is _so_ fit. The way his hair gets tousled when he flies around the pitch...you know sometimes I wished Max played Quidditch."

Kit and Corey exchanged looks and couldn't help but laugh at their friend.

"Anyway," Kit raised her eyebrows, "where are you two going on your date again, Cor?"

"Hearth and Home." The other two girls hummed in approval at the name of the new restaurant in Hogsmeade. "We're leaving in twenty minutes. Unless Marley has a go at Graeme in the meantime..."

Marlene sat up abruptly. "Corey!"

The girls all laughed. "OI, let Marley have her fantasy," Kit said good-naturedly. "I'd rather be with Graeme Goshawk than Charlie Avery tonight."

"I still can't believe you're going with Charles." Marlene's amusement shined through as she started painting her nails before her second date of the day with Max.

Kit rolled her eyes. "I wasn't really planning on it until _someone_ decided to go with -"

" _Caroline Carter_ ," the other two girls chorused.

"Merlin, she's so dim," Marlene said.

Corey laughed. "How'd he wrangle that one?"

"Don't really know the specifics and don't really want to."

"Don't lie, Plumpy." Kit frowned at the nickname. She was still pissed that Corey found that letter from her parents and practically told the whole house that her parents called her _Plumpy_. She was going through a chubby phase and the name stuck, okay?

"Fine," Kit returned hotly, "I kind of care."

Corey smirked. "Is Pucey going to be there?"

Marlene let out an unattractive snort. "That's all she talked about during Arithmancy the other day. _Oh, it's such a privilege to be invited to Slughorn's party this weekend. I wonder what he saw in me that compelled him to give me an invite?_ Circe, I wanted to vomit."

"She going with Urquart?" Kit asked. Corey similarly looked at Marlene for an answer.

Marlene shook her head. "Nope, Billy Clarke."

Corey laughed, while Kit clicked her tongue. "Shit, India McLaggen's going to be there." Marlene shrugged, non-pulsed at the drama that would no doubt unfold at the party, especially after India practically declared her love for Billy the other day after Herbology.

"Guess I better go. Have fun on your dates," Kit waved to her friends.

"And you, Plumpy," Corey quipped. Marley just laughed.

Kit closed the old wooden door behind her and continued down the stairs. The common room was crowded with students from all seven years. Some were dressed for the Slug Club party, while others were casually attired for dates in Hogsmeade or a broom cupboard. And seemingly smack dab in the middle of the chaos was Charles Bartholomew Avery.

Fucking bastard.

"You're not even wearing dress robes," Kit hissed as she stomped down the stairs.

Charlie turned around and sported a shit eating grin. "And hello to you too, Plumpy."

"What are you wearing!?" She gestured frantically to his burgundy coloured velvet smoking jacket with black satin lapels. The blond also sported a white dress shirt, as well as a black bow tie that matched his black pants and shoes.

"Clothes." He smirked.

Again, Kit gestured frantically. "We clash!"

"Guess you'll have to change…"

"Ugh! Let's just go." She pivoted on her nude heel and led the way out of the common room.

"You know I love it when you get feisty."

* * *

James was exceedingly hot in his black dress robes and was oh-so happy that he decided not to wear a tie. And it didn't help that Slughorn's office was completely packed to the brim with the old professor's best and brightest past and present students. Oh yeah, and there were cupids flying overhead. Bloody things were terrifying, babies really scared the shit out of him.

To add to James's misery, Caroline Carter was also not as funny as she was during Divination. She was sweet, sure, but James had to admit that Caroline was, unfortunately, a bit _dim_.

With a quick glance around the room, James had to chuckle at the daggers that a dateless India McLaggen was throwing at Billy Clarke and Nora Pucey. Though India was kind of high maintenance, remarkably fit, capricious, and devastatingly smart, but she didn't deserve the way the Clarke treated her. If James was being honest, India would probably be made prefect next year, and if he was being more honest, he hoped that Clarke didn't get the position if only for the sanity of Gryffindor House.

Caroline was currently in midst of telling James a story about how she managed to fall and break her roommate, Abby Napier's, leg the other day while ice skating on the Black Lake, but James lost focus after she uttered the words 'triple salchow.'

"And then she said, 'You've got as much grace as a bull in a china shop!' Isn't that the funniest thing you've ever heard?" Caroline gave a great belly laugh and looked up at James.

"So funny," he tried to laugh, but honestly was feeling quite tired already - and the party had only started half an hour ago. He needed a break from Caroline before she went on about another triple salchow, whatever the hell that was. Maybe it was a Muggle thing? "Say, do you want a drink? Me too, I'll be right back."

James dashed off, not waiting for a response.

Merlin's Beard, that was a lot to handle. James quickly zigzagged through a mass of party guests in an attempt to reach the drinks table. The line for butterbeer was about seven people deep. Guess he would just have to wait in line for a bit, not that he was really in a rush to dash back to Caroline.

Wait a minute…

* * *

"Good looks, Parker. Heard you met with Minnie," a voice startled Kit. She whipped around to see James pulling back in alarm. "Didn't mean to scare you." He smirked.

"You didn't, I'm naturally alert at all times." James rose his eyebrows and moved forward in line. "And what? Are you spying on me?"

"No, I literally heard you. I was on my way up to see her about some improvements to the quidditch locker rooms."

Kit quirked a brow at him as she took a strawberry surprise from the server (the surprise, unfortunately, was that the drink was not spiked). "Sounds like you're trying to get in her good graces…"

"And you weren't?" James grabbed a butterbeer and took a long swing. Kit failed to keep the shock off her face at his words. "Yeah, that's right, I heard you telling Marlene and Corey your plan. You know, sometimes I forget you're a Slytherin and then you remind me in the most surprising of ways."

She huffed and turned her head haughtily. "I see nothing wrong with being ambitious." James rose his eyebrows and took another sip of his butterbeer. "You did the same thing with Minnie, just for quidditch captain…"

James tensed, but tried to play it off. "What makes you say that?"

"Everyone knows next year is a rebuilding year for Gryffindor. Your captain and chaser, two beaters, and your seeker are graduating, and your reserves are hardly up to snuff." James feigned indifference at her spot-on assessment and she continued. "Frank Longbottom, as fit and nice as he may be, isn't really a leader and as fun and _downright_ _handsome_ as Jack Wood is, Minnie would never trust him with the position."

James shrugged, a bit bothered that she thought Jack was _downright handsome_. "So?"

"So," she dragged out, "you shouldn't be trying for captain…"

"Why the _fuck_ not?" he asked incredulously.

Kit shrugged, nonplussed at James' outrage. "You're a shoo-in for _captain_. Like, don't even bother putting in the extra effort for _captain._ Having a keeper for captain isn't common, but not necessarily unheard of." She paused and looked around James' shoulder as if she were about to reveal her deepest secret, before continuing. "You should be focusing on becoming a _prefect_."

It took James longer to reply as he pondered over Kit's words. "You think I could be prefect and quidditch captain?"

"You know you're smart, okay?" The words came out as though they physically pained her. "And well, you're James Potter."

"That sounds like a compliment."

She took a sip of her strawberry surprise mocktail. "Don't read too much into it -"

Her words were cut off by an unintentionally aggressive pat on the back and she nearly spat her drink out on James in surprise.

"There are my two favorite students!" Slughorn boomed behind Kit while a trio of older wizards amassed around him. "Are you two enjoying the party? I'm glad you heeded my advice and came together."

"We are, sir," Kit replied after she caught her breath, "but we didn't -"

James could see the smile leaving Slughorn's face and quickly interrupted the girl for the second time that night. "- what _Kit_ means to say is that we didn't really get a chance to dance yet."

Slughorn's mouth gaped open and he looked at the pair. "My dear boy, what are you waiting for? Off you go, don't let us keep you both. I'll have the band leader play a good one," he ended with a wink.

James hazarded a glance at Kit, only to see that she was blushing like mad and her jaw was clenched. Slughorn didn't seem to notice.

Kit put on a fake smile and took James' hand after putting down her drink on a passing server's tray. Her hands were small and soft and - _anyways…_

They made their way onto the crowded dance floor and got into place as the 'good one' Slughorn suggested to the band leader came on. They danced in silence for quite some time and let the awkwardness envelop them. James tried to not focus on how close he was to Kit and instead surveyed his gaze around the room.

McLaggen and Clarke seemed to be arguing in the corner, while Pucey looked on from a respectable distance. James's cousin Dominique just waltzed by with Patrick Fields, a Ravenclaw prefect, and Jack's brother, Damien Wood, was chatting with Rory Bletchley, a fifth year Slytherin that James vaguely knew from Quidditch.

But Kit still wouldn't look at him.

"You're pretty good at this," James tried to break their silence and at least put on a good show for Slughorn.

She rolled her eyes. "We're all taught how to do this."

"To dance?"

"No, to converse with people we don't particularly get along with," she joked.

James feigned hurt. "Rude." His left hand dropped slightly so it was touching her bare back. As his fingers absentmindedly played with the long pink ribbon tying her dress together, he felt a wave of goosebumps spread across her flesh. He tried to catch her eye, but she quickly looked away.

"Caroline's looking over this way." He followed her gaze to find that Caroline was indeed staring at them over the rim of her punch goblet as she talked with his cousin Molly, who looked physically pained to be in a conversation with the Hufflepuff. "She probably doesn't like you dancing with me," Kit continued, still not looking at him.

He clicked his tongue. "Well, Avery probably doesn't like you dancing with me either." His left hand could feel the vibrations from her laughter. "What?"

Kit finally looked up at him, smiling. "It's just that Charlie left twenty minutes after we got here. Long enough to greet Professor Slughorn and then find out where the bar was to bring half of it back to _The Bookstore_."

He frowned. "You mean, you didn't actually want to go with Avery?"

"No," she smirked, "I just wanted to teach you a lesson after you flaked on me."

"And what would that be?"

"Don't go back on your word with me or I'll make things difficult for you."

"That's a very," he paused, trying to think of the right word, "Slytherin."

She shrugged underneath James's arm. "It's true. And this was only a minor infraction on your part. Just wait till you really fuck things up." She smiled teasingly. Or was it? James really couldn't tell.

He let out a sigh. "Fine, Moneypenny. I will only go to Slugclub functions with you for the rest of my days."

"Good." She nodded before turning her gaze away from James. "Now was that so hard?"

"...No."

Kit redirected her gaze from the never-ending saga that was India McLaggen and Billy Clarke and looked James directly in the eye again. She had such beautiful brown eyes and that adorable trio of freckles on her left cheek just at the edge of her dimple. And she had _such_ nice lips -

Whether it was the festive spirit, the cupids, or that someone slipped something into his butterbeer, James got caught up in some ridiculous Valentine's Day shenanigans and had a momentary lapse in sanity. He stopped dancing and dropped his hands to Kit's waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

Merlin, her lips were as soft as he thought they were going to be. Kit momentarily stiffened but didn't disengage from James's quick peck on her lips. He pulled back, not wanting to be a wanker, only to see her eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh. Wh - wh - why did you do that?"

James took a step back and ran his hand through his hair nervously. "I just - err umm - you looked really pretty and I - err don't really know…"

Kit let out a shaky breath and nodded quickly. "Okay, right, that was nice. Thank you. I'm going to go. Err yeah, that was...yeah. Okay, see you Monday, bye."

She scampered off the dance floor, only to bump into Benji Selwyn and a nearby waiter, which sent a tray of champagne glasses to the ground. "I'm sorry!" She hurried out before dashing out of the room, chaos in her wake.

If James knew that kissing a girl for the first time was going to be such a big deal, he probably wouldn't have done it.

 **A/N: Awww James! Next chapter will see our Hogwarts's best potions partners as fifth years. Thanks for following and please leave a review, they really brighten my day!**


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